LANG’S MUSSOLINI TACTICS RESENTED

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3280, 25 February 1926, Page 10

LANG’S MUSSOLINI TACTICS RESENTED

Not Australian,- I I smd Not Labour POLITICAL HONOUR TORN TO SHREDS * The defeat, by 47 votes to 41, of the Labour Government’s moton aiming at 'the aboitlon of the Upper House had laid Mr. J. T. Lang open to violent press criticism. Besides which, Mr. iPercJlval, tyfio has resigned from • the Party, blames the Premier ; personally for the odium cast upon the movement and says his “Musolini” tiicks are not Austra- ’ Ban and not Labour. - SYDNEY, Feb. 24. Peroival, who was the legislator, who was missing for some days in ! January, yesterday resigned from tW Labour Party. He issued a statement in which he says that for 20 years he supported the Labour Party consistently and obeyed the party Whips’ crack, but under the bullying tactics of Mr. Lang the load became too heavy to bear. He blames Mr. liang personally for the whole of the odium which has been cast upon the Labour movement during the past few iponths. .: ‘■ He sayS: “His ‘Mussolini’ tactics are not Australian' and: not Labour. The Labour members of the Council. The never consulted, about the legislation to' be brought down. They were telephoned to and telegraphed to and told to be in the House at a certain time and to vote as told.’’ ',iThe requests became so discourteous, states Mr. Percival, that not only he himself, but other Labour members started to protest and de- ■ manded fair treatment. The crisis arrived when councillors were Instructed to dishonour their word and break their pairs; thus Mr. Lkng tore political honour to shreds. “Those who did not jump to attention under, the Dictator’s whip were attacked. Por several days the whole police and -detective force was put on my tracks-to 'shadow .me as though I ' were a criminal,”, states Percival.

5f POINTING A MORAL. I; CHANCE TO GO STRAIGHT. ____ •/ .... SYDNEY, Feb. 24. i The "Herald” in a leader says: “The Legislative Council’s defeat in connection with the Abolition Bill places Mb Lang face to. face with a serious crisis. It cannot be denied that public opinion has again been forcibly expressed, '-it; - has been strongly against this effort' to ’ get rid of the .•■Upper .House.” After a slashing attack on Mr, Lang’s legislative methods, the “Herald-”' addh: "The • Government feared and still fears to trust the public. Itj placed the -confidence trick on the; pufwc, an,d rhaving, achieved office by subterfuge: ii seeks unlimited power car|less of the mean;; by which this is ;tp be won and of the wishes of thebpeople.” Tfee “Telegraph” says: “The defeat of ‘the Bill suggests that many of the loudest voiced abolitionists were like the: tramp, ostentatiously looking for wofk and’ secretly praying not to find it.”;. Thejffikper adds: “It is not the

prolongation of the Council’s life that Mr.Lang’s defeat a matter of ' jj congratulation; it is the failure of his Gofernment to perpetrate a discreditable fraud upon the electors. Turned bach from the wrong course, he is liow given a chance of starting again on the right course. Instead of again attempting to swamp the Council with party puppets, he can, if he is game, remit the question of of abolition‘to the people.” * The Labour'Daily Newspaper in a leafier says: ,“The_defeat of the Govt ernjtent, though. disappointing, may be regarded 'as but -a 'temporary reprieve for' - the Upper House. The position is tjie sarqe, as it was before the Government took steps to abolish it,, but: theTobstqcle must sooner or later be removed,' otherwise the Government

would cease to be a Government inasmuch las'it would-be unable to "carry out its programme. The present position is intolerable to the Government and an affront to the people who placed it in power. Further measures are necessary and will be taken.” v PREMIER’S ROLE. POLICY OF MASTERLY INACTIVITY. SYDNEY, Feb. 24. Mr. Lang has refused to make any statement regarding the Legislative Coun'cil position. Only, ten members of the Council did hiot take part in the division last night. Of these, two are absent from Australia, two are ill and one had suffered a family bereavement. Of the 25 members recently appointed, four didnbt vote. One other Labour member [appointed by the Storey Governmerit was not present Mr. Bryant, former Government Whip, and Mr. Percival crossed the floor from the Labour benches and voted against abolition. Mr. Bryant says he was guided only by a simple sense of Rublic duty. He says that the treatment he has received during the past month after 40 years’ adherence to the Labour movement is only what would be meted out to galley sjavcs. He does not he says, intend to tolerate it any longer, and will resign from the Australian Labour Party. Mr. Bryant 1 was paired With Mr. Boyce last ses-j sion during the latter’s visit to NCWJ Zealand, and he says that undue influence was brought to bear on him to make him break his word, which j he has always kept in business and elsewhere. It was this that caused

him to take up the attitude he did on the division. EXPELLED FROM LABOUR PARTY. CRIME TO TELL TRUTH. LONDON, Feb. 23. Because he advocated close Lib-eral-Labour co-operation in the House of Commons, the Independent Labour Party has expelled Mr. Ben Spoor, Labour member for Bishop Auckland, and Chief Whip in Mr. Ramsay MacDonald’s Government. Mr. Spoor says that the Socialists attacked him for daring to think for himself. It had become an unpardonable sin to voice one's own opinions and a crime to tel! the truth.