COMPOSITE MINISTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 73, 23 September 1939, Page 15

COMPOSITE MINISTRY

MOVE IN AUSTRALIA

LABOUR STANDS OUT

COUNTRY PARTY WANTS TERMS

(From - "The Post's" Representative.) . SYDNEY, September 13. Political events leading to .the dramatic decision of Sir Earle Page to resign from the leadership of the Country Party are revealed in a series of letters exchanged between the Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, and Sir Earle Page. Flat refusal by Mr. Menzies to include Sir Earle Page in any composite • Ministry headed by himself and insistence upon the right to select any Country Party member for inclusion in such a Cabinet are high lights of the correspondence. Sir Earle Page's resignation has thrown upon Mr. Menzies the responsibility for ending the present uncertain position by reasonable' negotiation with a new leader. Sir Earle Page has asked Mr. Menzies to tell him and the Country Party whether Mr. Menzies j will insist upon his earlier demand that he alone should decide what members of the Country Party should join a composite,. Ministry. Upon the answer to that question the fate of a composite Ministry depends, Ulti-v mately^it might involve the fate of Mr. Menzies himself,: if •• the-U.A.P. and C.P. are prepared to push their beliefs to the extent they now, threaten. Sir Earle Page's voluntary resignation will be accepted by p the • Country Parly when it. meets, .to. elect a new leader. A' feature of the letters is a change of ground by Mr. Menzies. In the first, he said that personalities should be forgotten.' Later, he said, that because of the charges made against him by^Sir Earle Page he could hot include Sir Earle Page in any Cabinet. This led the Country Party to doubt. Mr. Menzies's desire for a; composite Government, and Sir Earle Page decided to test his sincerity by resigning^ and asking Mr. Menzies for a declaration whether he would insist upon his original conditions, even with a new Country Party leader in office. THE RIGHT OF SELECTION. In his first letter, Mr. Menzies told Sir Earle .Page that Labour was .prepared to support vital measures for the defence ■of Australia, but would not enter a-lSTationai Government At a time like the present, personal feeling should be set aside, and he was prepared to find places for the.Country Party in the Cabinet, but he would not make any bargain on the number of Country Party men he would accept. ■ ' ■■ • ' ; . Sir Earle Page, in reply, 'said the past should belong to the past.' In the face of a common danger he offered his services, either in) the field,, in. hospital, Parliament, or Governmental works. Formation of a national.Administration would be unobtainable if the Country Party were compelled to lose its identity in the. Government. The choice of Ministers should be by agreement' between the leaders of the. two parties-rra condition laid down by the Country Party, and not by himself. Mr. Menzies replied that selection of Ministers by the Country Party was unacceptable because imposition o£ this condition would ; mean a bargaining process which would restrict his choice as Government leadery arid destroy the harmony of Government. A second objection was that it would involve the entry of Sir Earle Page "into the Cabinet. If his original condition regarding appointments to the Cabinet was unacceptable to; , the Country party, the Government would continue as at present. In reply to this- letter, Sir Earle Page wrote that as his. continuance as leader of j the Country Party appeared to jeopardise? the chanties of a national Government, he was willing to place the leadership in the hands of the party. The Country Party affirmed its original statement that it was willing to share the, responsibility of the Government but believed that, the choice of Ministers should be by agreement between the Prime Minister and its leader. . ,

It has since been reported by cable that Mr. A. G. Cameron (formerly Postmaster-General) has been elected as leader of the Country Party and that the Country Party has agreed to the formation of a composite Ministry on terms to be discussed with Mr. Menzies. .'