MRS FREER’S BAN

Kaikoura Star, Volume LVI, Issue 95, 3 December 1936, Page 4

MRS FREER’S BAN

MEETING OF CABINET SYDNEY, December 1. The Freer case continues to be the subject of a lively controversy in the press. In political circles there is much speculation as to what will happen at to-morrow’s meeting of the Federal Cabinet at Canberra. The Sun says, on the assumption that the Cabinet will lift the ban, Ministers arc desperately seeking a formula whereby Mr T. Paterson (Minister for the Interior) will be able to stay in the Cabinet. Should Mr Paterson be forced out of the Country party against his wish the future of the Government might be endangered. The Attorney-General, Mr R. G. Menzies, in the House of Representatives to-day, denied that he had stated that there was neither legal nor moral grounds for Mrs Freer’s exclusion. LIEUTENANT DEWAR’S STATEMENT MELBOURNE, December 1. “The suggestions that Mrs Freer might be enabled to return to Australia came as a surprise to me, although 1 have always said that there was never any just ground for her exclusion,” said Lieutenant, Dewar. “Her decision to return shows that she herself is convinced that the Government had no moral light to ban her and that the statements made about her character wer<‘ grossly untrue. More than that, it- is clear that it has been quite impossible to substantiate them.” MOVEMENTS OF MRS FREER WELLINGTON, December 1. Speculation whether the arrival of Mrs AL M. Freer at Wellington from Auckland yesterday had any relationship with tlx* sailing of the Awatea tor Sydney created considerable interest on hoard the vessel before she sailed to-nig :. Airs Freer booked out of the hotel soon after 9 o’clock this morning. Suggestions that she intended to seek admission to Australia were reinforced by the news cablegrams hinting that the ban imposed might bo lifted by a decision of the | Commonwealth Cabinet. If Mrs Freer was a passenger in the Awatea her name did not appear in the I passenger list. Further, any knowledge of her movements was denied officially |on board. Nevertheless rumours that I she was on board persisted. Officials of the Awatea stated that it would be a comparatively simple proceeding for Mrs Freer to find her way on board under an assumed name. She was not known in Wellington, and would meet little difficulty in securing a ticket. It is understood that Airs Freer paid tor a ticket back to New Zealand, in the event of further objection to her landing in Australia.