The Australian Premiership
The Australian political situation, on which comment was made here last week, has been developed a stage farther by the resignation of Mr. Menzies from the Prime Ministership. Mr. Menzies had more than once made it clear that, while he was not willing to concede the Labour Party's claim to oust the coalition of the United Australia Party and the Country Party from office, he was ready himself, if desired, to step down from the Premiership and hand it over to some other Coalition leader. His eventual motive for doing so was supplied by the hostility of a section within his own following, the United Australia Party ; and his successor, Mr. Fadden, who is the leader of the Country Party, is said to be immune from that particular threat. Mr. Fadden takes over the headship of the Coalition on new terms, for he is free to choose what colleagues he pleases from either of the two parties. Previously a fixed ratio was laid down between the parties, and the Prime Minister's choice of colleagues from the party which he did not lead was limited to a panel selected by that party. The question of Australia's Ministerial representation in London remains unsettled. Mr. Menzies would like to come as Prime Minister, but not otherwise ; his opponents would consent to his coming, but not as Prime Minister. He made a particularly good impression here on his previous visit, and his return would be cordially welcomed on this side.
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