THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1923. N.S.W. LABOUR PARTY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 71, 7 March 1923, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1923. N.S.W. LABOUR PARTY.

The Labour Party in New South Wales, the birthplace of political Labour in. Australasia, is anything but a happy family. Its domestic differences have culminated in the controlling body known as the “executive” assuming the role of executioner and virtually decapitat-.. ing Mr. James Dooley, who, it will be remembered, was the latest Premier in the State Labour Cabinet iri. office when last year’s general election put it out The ostensible ground of his intended extinction by way of expulsion from the party is found in a charge laid agdinst him that, by illegitimate means, lie secured the election to the Upper House of a particular friend and supporter, Mr. J. B. Suttor, though he well knew this gentleman was not r according to the party’s rules, qualified to fill that place. The dis qualification alleged against Mr, Suttor appears to be that at the time of his appointment to the Legislative Council he had not been continuously a member of the league for the time prescribed to entitle him to nomination for a seat there.

To this assertion Mr. Dooley r©’ plies that, knowing Mr. Suttor as a member of the league as far back as 1916, and having no thought of his having failed to maintain membership during the interval, it never occurred to him to make enquiry on the subject. Beyond this, before Mr. Suitor’s selection by the Parliamentary party the league secre* lary gave a certificate of membership; the members of the league petitioned for his appointment *o fhe Upper House; the executive of the A'.L.P. appointed a committee of three members to enquire into the qualifications of those nominated for appointment; the committee investigated Mr. Suttor’s claims, •and reported favourably upon them ; and the executive itself endorsed the work of the committee, and sent Mt. Suitor’s name with others to the State party as that of a gentleman fully qualified for appointment to the Legislative Council. All that the executive says in response to this i§ that it set up a committee of investigation which has reported that, in fact, Mr. Suttor was not' qualified for the seat, “faking” of membership tickets on the part of a branch secretary being alleged. Mr. Dooley, on his part, says that the party was calleci upon to select for the Legislative Council only ten out of no fewer than three hundred aspirants for the seats and their easily earned emoluments. He points out that a considerable majority of executive members who led the attack upon him were disappointed

candidates. “These,” he says in a published statement, “allowed their disappointment to develop into malignant hate, and three of them were members of the committee of five who ‘tried’ me.” He then goes on to speak of “the cowardly and treacherous intriguing which has been going on in the Labour movement in this State,” and of the professing supporters of it “who are willing to teatf it to fragments in the work of gratifying their own selfish ambitions.” Mr. Dooley makes no difficulty in indicating that the true head and front of his offending consisted in his subscribing, along with two Senators, shortly after the elections, to a circular suggesting the neecl for a clearising of the movement from the elements of corruption that were making it an offence to the decent-minded members of the community, both within and without the ranks of Labour. This had brought down on him “the furious antagonism of a number of persons who dominate the executive, and who fear that acceptance of the principles outlined in the circular will place control of the movement in honest hands. At all costs, they wish to avert any change that will enable the movement to be governed By a body that will end’ the intrigues of self-seekers, restore public. confidence, and win the partyback to its rightful place in the government of the country’s affairs.” The personal attack on him, he declares, is merely a device to distract public attention from the graver issue, and to cover up the misdoings of those anxious to preserve their dominance. Altogether, the crossaccusatioiis do not make any very pretty reading.