FREE HAND SOUGHT

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 264, 3 August 1932, Page 9

FREE HAND SOUGHT

German Government’s Wish CONTINUATION OF TASK Constructive Legislation PRESSURE ON REICHSTAG (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Rec. August 2, 9.55 pun.) Berlin, August 2. The Government announces that in view of the result of the elections, it will return to its original task of constructive legislation. It will view the impending debates calmly, since a majority sufficient to reject, it could not easily be found. Cabinet has drafted a comprehensive plan of reconstruction, which it believes will be approved by a majority of the Reichstag.

It is stated semi-offlcially that the Reichstag will be asked to pass a law giving Cabinet a free'hand in financial and economic affairs without recourse to Presidential decrees. If the Reichstag is recalcitrant it will probably be dispersed. The state of parties as a result of the elections on Sunday is as follows:

Nazis 230 Socialists Communists Nationalists 37 Bavarian People’s Party .... 22 German People's Party and other small groups .... 45 Christian Socialists 4 State Party - 4 Peasants’ Party 2 Farmers’ Leagues 2

Total 644

The newspapers consider that the new Reichstag will be as unmanageable as the old and enjoy a purely theoretical power, while the Government by the Reichswehr will continue its dictatorship. General von Schleicher does not display the least disposition to hand over the reins of power to any combination of parties. Hitlerites’ Proposal. The Hitlerites propound a sensational suggestion that, the Communist Party should be suppressed by invalidating the claim of the 89> Communist deputies tq seats in the Reichstag. Thus the Right wing parties would be dominated by 230 Nazis who would be assured of an absolute majority. Claiming an amazing victory a Hitler manifesto says that the Nazis have become the strongest party in the Reichstag and must continue the fight for Germany’s freedom. The Brown House, Hitlerfs headquarters in Munich, says that the Nazis are determined to implement their gigantic vote of fourteen million and press for the right to take the helm, especially in view of the Bolshevik danger revealed at the election. Nazi Outrages. Infuriated by the election results, gangs of Nazis at Koenigsberg wreaked vengeance on Communists and Socialists in a series of murderous outrages. The recently-deposed Governor of Bahrfeld was called to his door and shot In both arms. Two Socialist journalists were similarly wounded. Two Communists were shot dead in the street. Incendiary bombs were thrown at the office of. two Socialist newspapers. There were also numerous bomb outrages against buildings in SchleswigHolstein belonging to Communist | The buildings damaged were unoccupied. Thirty-five to forty deaths elsewhere in Germany were traceable to faction fights following -the announcement of the election results. POLITICAL TRUCE Drastic Enforcement (Rec. August 2, 10 p.m.) London, August 2. The Berlin correspondent of "The Times” says: “The Prussian Minister of the Interior, Dr. Bracht, has warned all organisations and individuals against further incitement to bloody terror. The Government will not shrink from drastic measures to enforce the political truce. The Press must refrain from inflaming passions or suffer rigorous repression. “Four hundred and twenty persons were arrested in Berlin last night” NO SURPRISE IN PARIS Herr Hitler’s Lost Chance (Rec. August 2, 9.55 p.m.) Paris, August 2. The result of the election in Germany occasioned no real surprise in

Paris. The Press is neither satisfied, nor dissatisfied, declaring that Dr. von Papen and General von Schleicher got exactly what they wanted —a divided Reichstag which they can rule, ignore or suppress according to circumstances. The general impression is that Germany’s “fateful day” has not changed the political outlook, and that Herr Hitler has definitely lost his chance of gaining power, at least constitutionally.