HEATED DISCUSSIONS

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 177, 21 April 1924, Page 7

HEATED DISCUSSIONS

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR CONFERENCE

EXCLUSION OF COMMUNISTS

(Rec. April 20, 5.5 p.m.) Sydney, April 20. After a rowdy scone at the. opening, the Labour Conference settled down to business. The election of officers resulted in the return of tho previous year’s committee. The conference, after a lengthy and warm discussion, endorsed, by 154 votes to 102, the executive’s decision excluding Communist delegates, and negatived, by, 160 votes to 104, a further motion that all parties prepared to accept the Australian Labour Party programme be allowed affiliation. A further heated discussion followed over an appeal by Messrs. Bailey, Buckley, Bramston, Sutherland, Minnhan, and T. J. Smith, former prominent members, against their exclusion from the movement in connection with what is known as the faked ballot box scandal.

Mr. Willis, . the chairman, read lengthy sworn and other statements made in the course of an exhaustive inquiry into the matter, showing that ballot' boxes with sliding panels were made for use, enabling the results of balloting to bo controlled. Straight-out denials or rebutting evidence of the appellants were also produced. The discussion was unfinished when the conference adjourned.—Press Assn.