ABOLITION ISSUE

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 12 March 1926, Page 5

ABOLITION ISSUE

RECALL OF GOVERNOR.

PREMIER QUOTES PRECEDENT. IN REPLY TO CRITICISM. BY CABLE —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYBIGHT Received 10.5 a.in. to-day. SYDNEY, March 12. The State Premier (Mr. Lang) stated that he was amused at the press campaign against the Labour Government and the talk about Downing Street. He said that the Legislative Council Abolition Bill was brought in answer to a direct challenge from the Nationalist Opposition. Mr. Lang added that he refused the right of anyone to order a general election so long as the Government commanded a majority in the Assembly. It not only had the right, but the duty to rule. The Labour Party was never more united on the question of the abolition of the Upper House. Mr Lang then commented on the much-discussed proposal of the recall of the Governor. He said that it appeared to him that if he appealed to the Dominions Office he was sacrificing the self-governing rights of the people, hut when the Nationalists memorialised Downing Street to reject Labour Government legislation they were quite within their rights. When a Nationalist Premier demanded and secured the recall of a State Governor he was something of a hero, but the mere suggestion that a Labour Government might be compelled to act in a similar manner filled the Nationalists with horror. He concluded by saying that' all the talk about Downing Street was moonshine, as every well-informed citizen knew that the State Governpr was a servant of the State, although provided with a handsome salary and a palatial residence at the expense or the State.