MANY FOES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 204, 30 August 1933, Page 11

MANY FOES.

MR. LANG'S CONTROL. ECHOES OF BULLI ELECTION. SOUTHERN MINERS SECEDE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 23. During the past mon£h the effervescence in the State Labour camp caused by the interference of the Trades Hall executive in the Bulli election has been simmering slowly down. The determination of the Graves-Garden coterie to administer severe punishment to the supporters of Mr. Willis, and the consequent expulsion of several important workers in the cause of Labour have exasperated many already resentful of the despotism exercised by the Trades Hall junta and suspicious of its policy. Meetings of the local executives have I in many cases revealed bitter hostility i toward the Garden-Graves cabal, and to ' Mr. <Lang himself. The minors who felt particularly aggrieved by the interference of the Lang clique with their rights in a mining constituency have caused Mr. Lang a great deal of anxiety; and the strong attack made by Mr. "Bondy" Hoare upon Mr. Lang and the Trades Hall junta in regard to the policy and the control of the "Labour Daily," suggested that the northern miners would break away altogether. A Recantation. Tho Langites, however, succeeded in averting this calamity. For reasons that are singularly obscure, Mr. Rees, president of the Miners' Federation, who had sat silent when the Newcastle meeting censured Mr. Lang and demanded control of the party organ, suddenly came out with a strong declaration in Mr. Lang's favour, asserting that he had saved tho "Labour Daily" from destruction, and that the interests of the minors in regard to the paper were better safeguarded than ever before! This public recantation was supported by Mr. Teece, general secretary, whose sense of personal loyalty to Mr. Lang apparently overpowered all other considerations. "Bondy" Hoare and his followers could only express their amazement at this sudden change of g front on the part of Eees and Teece, and when the northern miners ultimately voted on the question of maintaining their connection with the State Labour party, tho Langites carried the day by a large majority. Southern Revolt. This result of the prolonged struggle was hailed as a great triumph by Mr. Lang and the Trades Hall junta, but it was counter-balanced by the revolt of the southern miners against the Trades Hall despotism. Feeling against Mr. Lang and Mr. Garden had been very strong in the southern district ever since tho Bulli election, and a meeting of the local executive at Thirron had closed with something closely resembling a free fight. In the end the miners of the southern field, partly because of their resentment at the attempt made by the Trades Hall to set their selected candidato aside, partly through dissatisfaction at the management of the "Labour Daily" and the control of the party funds, decided to cancel their application to the State Labour party. This, of course, leaves them still members of the A.L.P., but it detaches them -wholly from the Langites, and it means the formation of a strong centre of hostility and resistance to the Trades Hall autocracy, and Mr. Lang. Quite apart from the miners, Mr. Lang has had a great deal to contend with inside his party. The indefatigable Mr. Evans, a member of -the Trades Hall executive, who had issued a report protesting against the despotic methods of tho Graves-Garden junta, and refusing to accept responsibility for their actions, is still a thorn in Mr. Lang's side. It was expected that the Trades Hall would attempt to "discipline" Mr. Evans for his audacity, but his supporters were so numerous and their attitude was so menacing that the Trades Hall dignitaries contented themselves with passing a vote of confidence in Mr. Graves, whoso fair fame was supposed to have been impeached by Mr. Evans. Apparently encouraged 'by this impunity, Mr. Evans published another report, which was quite as damaging as the first, and which laid special stress on the alteration of the rules to which the Trades Hall magnates had resorted to strengthen their authority. So far Mr. Evans and his friends have had all the best of the argument, and while a vote of censure on tho Trades Hall executive was carried at Marrickville, stormy meetings at Paddington, Surry Hills, Bondi and other important suburban centres, show that the recation against Mr. Lang and the Graves-Garden clique is by no means confined to the southern mining district. Losing Its Grip? All this appears to justify the conclusion reached by the "Sun" and the other Nationalist newspapers here, that "the inner group of the State Labour party, which has controlled the movement since 1027, is fast losing its grip on the party Machine." This is certainly encouraging to the enemies of Langism, but it must also be a course of satisfaction to Mr. Scullin and his colleagues, the leaders of the A.L.P., for they have definitely decided that Australian Labour can never know unity or peace till control over the New South Wales Labour party is wrested from the Graves-Garden group and from Mr. Lang.