LABOUR SCANDAL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 6

LABOUR SCANDAL

FAKED BALLOT BOXES

SENSATION IN SYDNEY.

CfROH OUE OWN COItKSpONDBMT-)

• _ _ SYDNEY, 15th August. ~" A political bombshell crashed in ih« midst of the Labour movement at the week-end with the announcement of the recommendations of the executive of the Labour Party in thifs State, which have been adopted, from the special committee which has been inquiring into the' recent revelations regarding the use of faked ballot boxes in certain selections at the headquarters of the party It was found that a number of boxes having secret sliding panels, enabling mani- r pulation of the votes,'had been used. The affair caused an immense sensa- : won on the eve of the annual conference of the party recently, and, a special . committee, with the new president, Mr..A. C. Willis, as chairman, was' appointed'to ascertain the facts and make recommendations. , Its decisions have embraced some of the best-known men in the movement, and their summary expulsion, four without limitation of time""' and two for two years, has shaken the ' party, already riven with internal" dissensions due to the undermining of the Communist*, to its foundations. . In its report the committee does not at this stage give even a resume of the evidence; ~: so that the. nature of the alleged responsibility "of the persons named in its report is not made clear. Its only com-' ! ment is in regard to Mr. P. J. Minahan ' —who has long been one of the pillars " of the party and who has been expelled' * for two years. He is one of three merii-" bers of Parliament affected. In his case it was stated, that the committee was . v unanimously of opinion that ' he' was " aware that fraudulent ballot boxes were in existence, he haying been informed at the time that the Sydney selection ballot was held. The' committee, :t further states, "'invited him .on twci occasions to appear.and give evidence to it, but he failed to appear and notified the committee by letter that he had no knowledge of crook ballot boxes being in-existence until at was so stated ht . the Press. In view of Mr. Miuahan's refusal^ to appear, and believing from . the evidence thajr he knew of the exist- - ence of fraudulent ballot boxes without ' taking any steps to expose the matter; it was.of the'opinion that he should ' be expelled for two years." -■*.'■■ The decision of the executive in forthwith expelling Alderman Braniston and Messrs: A. W. Buckley, Gavi n Suther- - land, and John Bailey, M.L.A., without specified term, and Messrs. T. J. Smith ; M.L.C., and P. J. Minahan, M.L.A.. for two years without any more investiga. 1 toon or explanation,' leaving the next.-,' annual conference nearly a year ahead the only court of appeal, haß been hufcly' debated through the Press, and the men themselves are .vigorously demanding an open inquiry with sworn evidence. In the meantime two members of the committee' that convicted them—Messrs. J. Howie and J. S: Garden—are serving terms of fourteen.days' imprisonment in - Long Bay gaol, which they elected to undergo -rather than pay fines imposed on them for obstructing traffic in Mac-, quarie street by addressing an unemployment demonstration outside Parliament House. Thus a week or more mustiyet elapse before the executive will be able to consider the demand for an open" inquiry and give its decision. ;-■ . ' ''■'