The result of the Australian Referenda, announced in Thursday's papers,
has been the rejection of the Labour Government's demands altering the Federal Constitution in two important points. The voters were asked whether they approved of empowering the Federal Government (1) to legislate on industry and commerce within the States, especially as regards the railways; (2) to decide when an industry was a monopoly, and, having so decided, to nationalise it. The proposals had been agreed to by the Federal Parlia- ment, and embodied in Bills on which the vote of the electors was taken on Wednesday. The result, which, be it noted, does not involve the resignation of the Labour Ministry, is a great vindication of the Referendum as an expression of the con- servative element in democracy. Opponents of the system who denounce it as a revolutionary instrument will find no support in the decision of the Australian electors.
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