The Irish standard., 1916-12-16
FiheIIy's Speech Stirs
The Australians
IRISH CONDITIONS CAUSING AUS
TRALiAN CRISIS-THE SIT
UATION IN QUEENSLAND.

speech OF Mr.. Fihelly, Minister of JUS
tice for Queensland, delivered some
weeks ago at a meeting held in Bris-
bane, in behalf Of the Irish Relief
Fund for the Dublin sufferers, has Gre
ated quite stir all over the common
wealth. Besides being the subject of a
no-confidence motion against the min
istry-a motion which was defeated in
the Queensland Parliament-th same
speech has aroused the anti-lrish preju-
dices of Sir Major Hamilton Goold-
Adams, the state governor, who has
declared that he will refuse to meet
the executive council, so long as Mr..
Fihelly continued to be one of its men,
bers.
The action of the state governor, an
official who owes his position to ap-
pointment, not to election, has aroused
Australian public opinion and the re-
suit may be that before this contro-
versy comes to an end the imported
anu S9ONCllplo UC ltISS5dlCu
to the scrap heap by the Australians.
The Sydney "Freeman's Journal" re-
fers as follows to the governors over
estimate of his own Importance:
I'VE do not pretend to have the
faintest idea how the political crisis
in Queensland, precipitated by the au-
dacious attitude of the state governor,
Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams,
toward the assistant minister for JUS
tice, Mr.. Fihelly. will be eventually
treated by the Ministry, but we have
no hesitation in saying that if the
premier, Mr.. Ryan, and his colleagues
of the Cabinet, are true to the princi-
pies of Australian democracy, they will
demand from Downing street the i'm.
mediate recall Of a vice-regal repre-.
|sentative who has so wantonly allowed
his personal preiudices to interfere
with the proper exercise of his official
duty. There are no complications in
the political incident which is under
consideration.
With Mr.. Fihelly's opinions Sir
Hamilton Goold-Adams has absolutely
no more official or personal concern
than if they had been uttered in the
North Pole. For one thing, they were
not voiced in his presence, so it is vain
for him to plead that he was tactlessly
or deliberately affronted. For another
thing, a state governor has no right
whatever to actively meddle with Aus
tralian political questions. Privately
he can hold any ideas he fancies but
officially he has no warrant to en-
deavor to foist them on the community
which has received him as link with
the center of the Empire.
"He is merely an official bird of pas
sage in Australia, and it is no part o
his duty to decide what Cabinet min
listers shall say or what they shall mo-
say at public meetings. Hc might JUS
as we'll claim the right to select the
friends for them. In short, Sir Ham
ilton GOold-Adams, when he statet
that as governor he did not intend tt
meet the executive council so long a.
Mr.. Fihelly was there, absolutely com
mitted the gravest indiscrctiOn q
which any state governor in Australi;
has been guilty. Indeed, it is to the
credit of most Of the imported govern
ors who have sojourncd amongst IL.
that they very definitely understood
the non-partisan character of their po
sition and made an honest attempt tt
keep clear of the very rocks and shoals
towards which the governor of Queens
land has sailed so recklessly.
eve are told by the Brisbane CORE
spondent of a Sydney newspaper that
it is expected that the Queensland
Parliamentary Labor party will resent
the governors attitude, and that prob
ably general election will be the out
come of this crisis. But why should
this be so?
"If there is to be resignation, then
logically it is Sir Hamilton Goold
Adams who should hand in his papers
For what is his exact position, and why
does he refuse to meet Mr.. Fihelly in
the council? He has only one excuse
that we can see. In view of Mr.. Fl
helly's speech he would probably plead
that as the kings representative it is
impossible for him to meet in his off
cial capacity an avowed "disloyalist'
like the assistant minister for justice
But why is Mr.. Fihelly to be consid
cred disloyal? Is it because he ex
pressed his sympathy with Ireland in
her present distress, and stated that
IIngland's treatment of Ireland sug
gested cant, lumbug. or hypocrisy,
and that the shooting of Skeffington
and some mere boys were crimes, stu
pid and useless and worse than the
Fryatt or Cavcll cases? Or is it be
cause Mr.. Fihclly is not only sym