[Editor: This article, regarding the New Year, was published in The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld.), 1 January 1925.]
The New Year
It is purely an arbitrary arrangement by which the year ends midway between the dusk of December 31 and the dawn of January 1. True, this outstanding time-mark in our mundane minds has some astronomical associations which lend it a cosmic fitness; but there is little reason, beyond that of use and wont, why almost any other date could not stand equally well for the year’s terminal.
Indeed, the world has observed various calendars in the course of its long human career, each one having its peculiar starting point and periods. At one time it was the Greek Olympic Games that indicated a civilisation’s passing periods; and later on another race took as their calendar’s beginning the traditional founding of the city of Rome. In its first republican flush France scrapped the usual European timetable, and instituted one with florid month-names, dating from the year of the Revolution. Even in Australia to-day, most Government departments make their reports and forecasts from June to June rather than from January to December. Still, for the majority of citizens, January 1 is the beginning not only of their calendar year, but also of their new enterprises. It is therefore fitting on this day to estimate the opportunities that the new year now holds out to us.
In Brisbane, and throughout Queensland generally, some important administrative changes are drawing near. There is the announced resignation of the Premier, an event which may have far-reaching effects on the political stream of this State. It is important to have as leader of the Government a man of vigorous sanity who can help forward legislation for the benefit of all classes of the community, and the approaching departure of Mr. E. G. Theodore from the Premiership naturally raises some public concern regarding his successor.
If the question of the new Premier be largely decided by Caucus and its little controlling cliques outside Parliament, there is an administrative matter upon which the people as a franchised force will be asked to give a vital verdict. That is the election of the Greater Brisbane Council, which is planned for next month. The socialistic party entered this field early and arranged its teams and terms, and the United party has also made careful choice of candidates for the office of Mayor and for aldermanic positions. It now remains for the people candidly to examine these two parties, and to register their votes conscientiously. The great majority of citizens who want progressive rule and financial sagacity in the municipal field can easily get them by supporting the United party, and voting for its representatives. Indifference to polling duties, on the other hand, might as easily hand municipal affairs over to the capital-smashing party of rash experiments.
Taking a wider survey of prospects, it is encouraging to note the population statistics just published by the Commonwealth Statistician. Frequently complaints are heard about Australia’s slow natural increase; but this continent’s population growth of over 2 per cent per annum is actually rapid compared with that of other countries. It is not long ago that the Commonwealth’s population touched the 5,000,000 mark, and now Mr. Wickens estimates that it will reach 6,000,000 in the year 1926.
Australia’s population problem is largely concerned with the tropical north, and it is therefore well that the Federal Government intends to do something to [missing text] sugar industry, which is the [missing text].
The Federal Government is not planning all that Queensland rightly expected for the continuance of this great White Australia bulwark, but the extension of the embargo on foreign sugar for three years is something to be thankful for, particularly in view of southern intrigues and propaganda.
The British Government’s scheme to spend £1,000,000 each year to facilitate the marketing of Dominion products in Great Britain, though still rather vague and apparently regarded with suspicion by British farmers, should also make the new year more favourable for the people of this southern nation.
Source:
The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld.), 1 January 1925, p. 6
Editor’s notes:
On the Trove site, the relevant page of the newspaper was damaged, so there is some text missing from the article, which has been noted in the above article with the notation “[missing text]” in two places.
aldermanic = of or relating to an alderman (an elected representative on a city council or shire council; a member of the governing body of a local government)
caucus = a meeting of members of a political party (where they can decide upon issues of policy; determine party directions, strategies, and tactics; choose candidates and delegates; and make various decisions); a grouping of legislative representatives from the same political party (e.g. the political caucus of the Australian Labor Party); a grouping of members of a political party or of legislative representatives who share a common goal or interest, or who are part of the same interest group (e.g. the Congressional Black Caucus of the United States Congress, which consists of black members of the US legislature)
Caucus = (in the context of Australian politics) a political caucus of the Australian Labor Party [see: caucus]
Commonwealth = the Commonwealth of Australia; the Australian nation, federated on 1 January 1901
Dominion = (in the context of the British Empire) one of the British Dominions (Australia, Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa), being those countries of the British Empire which were self-governed
E. G. Theodore = Edward Granville Theodore (1884-1950), known as Ted, a politician (Labor Party) and businessman; he was born in Port Adelaide (South Australia) in 1884, was Premier of Queensland 1919-1925 and federal Treasurer (1929-1930, 1931-1932), and died in Edgecliff (Sydney, NSW) in 1950
See: 1) Neville Cain, “Edward Granville Theodore (1884–1950)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “Ted Theodore”, Wikipedia
race = nationality; people of a particular national or ethnic origin (distinct from the historical and/or common usage of “race” referring to a sub-species of humans, such as Caucasians, Mongoloids, and Negroids, or Europeans, Asians, and Africans)
the Revolution = (in the context of France) the French Revolution (1789-1799)
See: “French Revolution”, Wikipedia
sagacity = the quality of being sagacious: wise, shrewd; having or showing acute mental discernment, sound judgment, good perception
terminal = end, finish; an end point, finishing point, or terminating point
United party = [see: United Party]
United Party = a conservative political party which existed in Australia from 1931 to 1945; it was succeeded by the Liberal Party in 1945
See: “United Australia Party”, Wikipedia
Wickens = Charles Henry Wickens (1872-1939), actuary and statistician; he was born in Kangaroo Flat, Sandhurst (i.e. Bendigo, Victoria) in 1872, was appointed as Commonwealth Statistician in 1922, and died in Balwyn (Melbourne, Vic.) in 1939
See: 1) Cameron Hazlehurst and Margot Kerley, “Charles Henry Wickens (1872–1939)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
wont = custom, habit, practice; accustomed; apt, inclined
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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