time in England we were accustomed to look for commercial brigandage and acts of dishonesty that would disgrace the scum of Whitechapel among those Armenian merchants who carried on the Levant trade with England. To-day we are sorry to state the Armenian is outstripped by the Melbourne British Customs thief. It is humiliating to think that Australia is peopled by the British race. Fortunately for society, the working classes and the farmers are taking a deeper interest in the political life of the country. Although no party has lived through more abuse than the Labour Party, still it contains, and has for supporters in the country, the only stable elements in society. Their ideals are purity of public and municipal life. I may say that a gentleman, who has filled a very high position in the Ministry of the State of Victoria, stated that if he had charge of the Butter Commission, he would lock up every one implicated on the charge of conspiracy. I should now like to quote from the "Thunderer," of Printing Housesquare-the Times of 5th April, 1904. The quotation, which is headed "An Australian Loan Policy," bears on the question of Socialism, and, therefore, I hope the honorable member for Richmond will give me his attention

The so-called "anti-Socialistic" crusade of last

December was not a great matter, because nearly every one in Australia is a Socialist, so far as is implied by asking for Government help at every turn, while in the Continental sense hardly any Australians are Socialists. There was, therefore, nothing in the measures advocated by either party to send voters rushing to the poll. As for the men, Australian distances considerably limit the choice of candidates. Barring a few rich people, who spend most of their time in England or on tour, this is a population of working men, business men, and artisans. A Federal member of Parliament gets £400 a year, which does not tempt the good business man to leave his work, and offers little temptation even to the better class of artisans. Consequently, the candidates come, as a rule, from less desirable classes, especially the non-artisan candidates; and in two States already I have been told by leading "anti-labour" politicians that, man for man, the labour candidates in December last were distinctly the best of the bunch.

I do not wish to labour this question too much, but I desire to point out that some of our critics are not altogether free from reproach. I find it recorded in a little red book called A Relic of the Boom Times, that one Mr. F. T. Derham, who failed for £548,000, had assets of about £97,000, and paid to his creditors a dividend of one penny in the pound.

Mr. TUDOR.-Did he stand for the Senate? Mr. MALONEY.-I should not wonder if he had cheek enough to go anywhere. If he went up to Heaven he would probably ask for a special pass from Saint Peter, on the ground that he had paid his

The

creditors one penny in the pound. Labour Party have been charged with desiring to seek special advantages for a particular class, but not one member of the party would vote in that direction. We desire to establish a system of old-age pensions, under which pensions will be paid to the millionaire and to the poorest man in the community alike, so that no indignity shall rest upon the latter. Some time ago, in Victoria, before the introduction of the old-age pensions system, a man was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment for vagrancy, although he was able to show by means of an old bank-book that he had dispensed £10,000 in charities. When the land boom was at its height the Victorian Legislature increased the pensions to civil servants to the extent of £100.00 a year, but when we suggested that old-age pensions should be provided for we were asked where the money was to come from. We might have answered at a later stage that the money was to be derived from the same source as the Maffra beet sugar bonuses. It is absolutely necessary that we should have a Conciliation and Arbitration Act, because until such a measure has been passed we shall not be able to fight with any chance of success against

combines and trusts.

At

At present the prices of the tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes, and kerosene consumed by us are regulated from America. The great Rockefeller combine controls the whole of the oil product of the world. It has laid its grasp upon the Russian oil mines, but I trust that the Russian Government will check its operations. one time there were engaged in the oil industry in America 4,000 different companies, with 4.000 separate managements, but to-day a small group of eight men control the oil production of the United States. With our splendid franchise the highest and the greatest in the world-we shall be able, under an Arbitration Act, to fight the trusts for the benefit of the whole of the people of the Commonwealth. When it was first proposed to grant the butter bonuses, I suggested that facilities should be offered to the citizens of Melbourne to purchase butter at the cool stores at the London market price, but I was laughed and jeered at by the companions of the Minister of Trade and Customs. If the inquiry into the alleged abuses in connexion with the butter bonus is not carried out in the most complete manner it will be the duty of the Australian Parliament to interfere and see that justice is done to the

community at large. I hold in my hand photographs of some of the largest cheques that have been paid over in connexion with the operations of trusts and combines. The amounts range from the £11,000,000 paid by China to Japan, China to Japan, to £3,000,000 paid by by Ernest T. Hooley, the great financial swindler and company promoter. I am perfectly sure that if we nationalized the tobacco industry we could reduce the prices of tobacco by fully one-half, and, therefore, we should do good work if we swept aside the present monopoly. When I was in Sydney, recently, I was informed that a combine was being formed with a view to securing the control of the tramways in some of the larger cities. I trust, however, that the movement will not be successful, because I think we should take pattern from the municipal Socialists of Great Britain. The company to which I have referred is to be floated in London at a profit of £30,000. What will become of the unfortunates in London, who may speculate in the company, if it does not pay? If the Labour Party had their way, they would require that all tramways should be built and controlled by the municipal authorities, so that the public might derive the benefit of any profits. Capital is so fluid, and is controlled by such a few persons, that its power for evil is almost illimitable, and evil consequences generally result from its use by large combinations and trusts. Little by little the real objects of the present Government are being divulged. I am forcibly reminded of an adage which is current in India, which runs somewhat as follows:

"Never believe in anything until it is

officially contradicted.

If a statement

be untrue, it is not worth while to contradict it, but if it be true and inconvenient contradiction is always resorted to." I do not think that honorable members who sit behind the Ministry know where they are. I have come to the conclusion that, sooner or later, they will find themselves left as was the party to which I have alluded, when the Premier of Victoria was unfairly ousted from office by the Ministry of which the Minister of Trade and Customs was the leader, a Ministry which brought upon Victoria the greatest curse which it has ever had to bear. In connexion with the White Australia question, no man is entitled to more homage than the right honorable member for Adelaide. I hold in my hand the record of his efforts, as far back as 1893, to induce the other Australian Governments to assist

Mr. Maloney.

him to maintain a White Australia. At that time it was shown that, in connexion with the trade from the north coast of Australia to the south, there was a discrepancy in one year of 616 between the number of Chinese on board the boats when they called at Port Darwin, and the number who left that port on the return voyage from Adelaide. Many of these Chinese were placed upon the ships' articles with the cognizance of the owners, who were parties to the swindling necessary to secure their admission to Australia, although they were passengers.

Mr. SPENCE. The same swindling is being carried on still.

Mr. MALONEY.-To the right honorable member for Adelaide belongs the credit of having taken the first practical steps towards securing a White Australia. In a circular issued by the Victorian Steam-ship Owners Association, it was claimed that the Chinese were not employed as seamen on account of their cheapness. It was pointed out further that coloured alien immigration might be diminished if the authorities declined to issue hawkers' licences. The question, howcould live if such a step were taken. My ever, is how the coloured aliens already here feeling is that those who have settled down here should be welcomed as brothers, but

that we should stand firm as sentinels between Australia and the yellow races beyond the seas. The yellow peril may overshadow and may eventually engulf us, but we must do our best to keep it from our shores. How the people of the United States would have thanked their forefathers who fought for their liberties in the old days if they had stood

as sentinels between them and the black

races of Africa. What misery and suffering would have been avoided! Not a week passes but two or three negroes are burnt at the stake in America. That is one of the penalties that the people of that country are paying for the coloured invasion of their States. If we stand firm as sentinels between Australia and the yellow races, our names will be handed down in history Two honorable memwith all honour. bers of the last Parliament who voted in favour of retaining kanakas upon the Queensland sugar plantations were rejected

at the last election, and I am sure that the feeling of the majority of honorable members is perfectly sound upon the necessity of closely safeguarding our shores against an invasion of coloured races. No member of the Labour Party has spoken so strongly against the Peninsular and Oriental Com

Yet that man could not spare from his £5 per week to help his old father. Personally, I object to any son being compelled to support his father. This country is great enough to support its aged people without compelling them to be dependent upon their children.

Mr. HUME COOK.-In justice to him I think it should be said that he contributes I a week to his mother.

Mr. MALONEY.-That is so. He contributes a week to his mother and sister, and I am sure that the Almighty will bless him for it.

Mr. Reid professes an entire willingness to ap. point a Royal Commission for Tariff inquiry. At first sight that looks like an agreement with the demands of the Opposition. But the Prime Minister insists on a Commission which would enter into the whole question of fiscal policy. That protectionists will not accept. The general fiscal battle was fought and won in the establishment of the fiscal peace. The protectionists do not want to rip up the whole Tariff. That is what Mr. Reid fought for and lost.

I have sat upon various Commissions, and from that experience I have come to realize the truth of the words used by a German economist, who said, "If the Almighty had put the making of the earth into the hands of a Commission it would never have been built." To me a Commission is synonymous with delay. I say that honorable members, fresh from their constituents, should know what the majority desire, and be prepared to act accordingly. To say that there shall be fiscal peace for one year, or two, or even three years, is an absolute absurdity. I regret that the right honorable member for Swan is not present. I informed him that I intended to speak, because I wished him to be present in order that he might contradict any statement which he disputed. I know that the reign of the "six families" in Western Australia was very hard on the average t'othersider. But the t'othersiders have gone to Western Australia, and with the ferment of right

and justice have swept the noble six families into oblivion. The right honorable member for Swan is responsible for any conservative provisions which may be contained in the Constitution. He took to the Federal Convention ten valiant representatives of Western Australia. Those delegates were selected by the State Parliament, and were in reality nominated by the gentleman who bore the title of "King of the West." Where are those delegates now? Is there a single supporter of the right honorable member for Swan in this House? Not one. Indeed, I am credibly informed that in neither branch of the Commonwealth Legislature is there a member who acknowledges the right honorable member as his chief.

Mr. KING O'MALLEY.-He is a lone bird.

Mr. MALONEY.-But he is not singular in that respect, because the honorable member for Oxley occupies a similar position. Let us see how they returned the members there. East and West Kimberley used to have an average of 107 electors on the roll, and thirty votes would generally return a candidate. That is the type of supporter which the right honorable member had in Western Australia. In the Kalgoorlie electorate, on the other hand, over 5,000 miners, who made Western Australia known to the world by the amount of gold which they tore from the earth, had but one representative.

That infamy was permitted for many years, by the great and glorious Government of which the right honorable member was the leader. In the Ashburton electorate, there were seventy-nine electors on the roll. That electorate returned the Attorney-General, Mr. Burt, the right honorable member's lieutenant, while the goldfields with an adult male population of over 50,000, returned only three members. The right honorable member, when Premier of the State, tolerated and perpetuated that abuse until 1897, and yet he has the splendid audacity to pose here as a Liberal. If it were not for a certain burly, good-tempered way which he has, he would not be taken so seriously. Then what was his treatment of the unfortunate natives of Western Australia? To his Government is attributable the criminality of reinstituting flogging in the State. Flogging had been abolished, but the Government of the right honorable member permitted the flogging of unfortunate natives, who were treated worse than the beasts of the field probably, because the latter had a greater money value.

The British Government were always disinclined to hand over the care of the natives to the Government of Western Australia. Now that the Labour Party are in power, flogging will not be allowed. The members of that party will not allow the iniquities which were practised by the squattocracy, with very few exceptions, to continue. The Queen, in 1861, told Sir John Young, then Governor of New South Wales, that his duty was to prevent and restrain all acts of violence and injustice towards the natives. That was always the desire of that great and good woman. When I visited that State a short time before the elections, and went into a church there, I heard a priest at the altar say that a collection would be taken up for the aborigines. During my forty years' experience I have not known that to be done in Victoria. Then, again, the law that no justice of the peace interested in a complaint against a native should sit on the bench was rescinded by the Government of the right honorable member for Swan. Hansard bears me out in that statement. The law to which I refer is section 4 of the Act 47 Victoria, No. 8. In 1892, two years after the inauguration of responsible government in Western Australia, the Government rescinded the provision that justices of the peace might not try cases in which they were interested, and for the first time flogging was permitted. Up to as many as twenty-five strokes could be given to a male, while a single magistrate could impose a term of two years' imprisonment. Previously, it was necessary for a resident magistrate, and a justice of the peace, that is, a paid stipendiary magistrate, to be present. But, Lord love us! those concerned were only niggers, and what cared the right honorable member for Swan about them in those days? If they appeared to be under sixteen years of age, the flogging was limited to twelve lashes. Then, under the Act of the 18th March, 1892, this was

done. Honorable members may not be

aware that the natives of Western Austra

lia, like those of other places, I believe, have periods of unrest, which are known as "walk-about" periods, and Jones, J.P., would run in his mob of human beings to Smith, J. P., who would sentence them, and perhaps order them lashings; and when the mob of Smith, J.P., became unruly a little later on, and wanted to walk about, they were sent to Jones, J.P., and so honours

Mr. MALONEY.-It is felt that the aborigines of Western Australia have not been properly protected.

Mr. SPEAKER.-The question before the Chair is whether this Government possesses the confidence of the House. The honorable member must address himself to that question, and not discuss the question whether some one or other has properly protected the aborigines of Western Australia.

Mr. MALONEY.-I wish to show that there is no chance of the aborigines of Western Australia having their conditions of life ameliorated by a Government of which the right honorable member for Swan is a supporter. Moreover, my remarks bear on the question of a White Australia, which I was returned, not later than last March, to support. We, in Victoria, protect girls who are under the age of sixteen years; but the right honorable member for Swan does not think that girls over the age of twelve years are worth protecting, and he gave his vote to carry that view into effect. He has appeared on public platforms in Prahran, South Melbourne, St. Kilda, and other places before audiences of ladies whom he is professing to educate in politics. if they knew what he had done in the way of introducing into Western Australia the flogging of unfortunate natives after flogging had been abolished there, and lowering the age of consent to twelve years, they

of Coolgardie did.

But

would hiss him as heartily as the miners to continue in power a Government which is We are being asked of the age of twelve years and one month supported by a man who believes that girls should not be protected.

Every honest man and woman outside will scout the idea. I do not ask honorable members to

take my word alone for these facts. I have them here in black and white. How can the present Government call itself a liberal Administration? The honorable member for Gippsland would have spoken until he could stand no longer against those infamies had he been in the Western

Australian Parliament. Attorney-General Burt said, however, "Whin them."

Mr. SPEAKER.-I call the attention of

the honorable member to the Standing Orders, which require some relevancy of de

bate.

I have already informed him again and again that he is not speaking to the question before the Chair, and while I am loth to take the steps required by the Standing Orders, I must insist upon his conforming with the rules of debate. must discuss the question before the Chair,

He