ALLEGED POLITICAL "PLOT" IN AUSTRALIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 193, 16 August 1941, Page 7

ALLEGED POLITICAL "PLOT" IN AUSTRALIA

LABOUR SUSPICION

Mr. Menzies' Proposed Visit To London United Press Association.—CopyriglTt. Rec. noon. SYDNEY, this day. the question of whether Mr. R. G. Menzies, Prime Minister, can Wng off his London trip is still the subject of controversy in all newspapers. The three Labour members of the War Council claim that there Sag been a political plot by the Government to muzzle the Labour party under cover of the National Emergency Act.

It is alleged that after Mr. Menzies went to Adelaide a week ago, fellow Ministers, by a prearranged plan, dramatised and "cooked up" events in order to get Mr. Menzies away, and also to induce the Labour party to consent to give the Government immunity from attack, or defeat, •wring his absence.

Press opinion inclines to the better that, with the battle now transferred to Canberra, to be fought out •n the party rooms and in Parliament next week, the odds are heavily Wnst Labour's acceptance of the Proposal, although Mr. Curtin is exacted to fight strenuously for it. *. Curtin's colleagues on the War Council absolve him from any complicity in the alleged plot.

Unfortunate Reaction in London

The prominence given in London ffi the Australian anxiety over Japanese actions has caused AustraJgn Government stocks to. weaken, sellers are predominating. It is floteJ™thy that there is no similar pubPly from New Zealand, and New ■Wand stock is not affected to the extent.

.Some quarters attribute the weakl™* to the alarming nature of the «js Issued in connection with the J*«ralian Cabinet meetings. The yjwe in Australian stocks certainly m,t not accord with the prevailing £"*et sentiment about the Far as a whole. Japanese «ocks have actually rallied moder-

Most observers do not appear to rgwjfler the reaction in Australian £~m warrants much comment, Jgamngly under the impression that "f aecline is only temporary.

iJ2ll financial News says it is £W?ttable if holders of Australian 33J» lost sleep over the political jjwjDHities in the ocean appropri,h!l y "Pacific." If the risks Drii^l 1 are duc to a third Power's ESGJr. their nature has been evident R*pL? ng Unie—precisely since 1931 - jwcent events may increasingly ton»h awn attention to these facp out have not changed them.

rii^ B u ralla is as far from Japan's »SP gases as ever, and still physirariL b ? yoncl effective sea and air ggge. Actually. Australia's defences rg™ at Singapore or the Straits of W& for that matter.

*" •" ' n-.ircr-s World Service Hffijf, lo other sj-.c! n | sources ot information. •"tffiSL ' n 'h; for-.i'.l.Mion ot Hie oversea.-. HiKfita .P« b| !".'''l '•' '*<- lsf'«e. »n" a " rleht* '" m Aue.i.~i:j an'! Nr« 2e-ilar.d a-e reserved <Ss.fi-"" ™" >-•" "" "-'« ™« as , * I? ■'•/he- 00 " 1 that the .„ one «r* not ih(i«i> ol -... -JnCJ-' UUl'.as cXBICSiL stated 10 03 50..1