REVOLT AGAINST REDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19501, 3 December 1926, Page 16

REVOLT AGAINST REDS.

MR. LANG AND HIS PARTY.

THE INSURGENT FOLLOWERS. NEW SOUTH WALES CRISIS. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY. Nov 25. The past seven days have been a critical time for tho Lang Government in New South Wales, through the revolt of three of its supporters, and indeed it is not yet out of the wood. For' the past three or four months the dissatisfaction of country members of tho Labour Party has been increasing, and following the abortive attempt to wrest the leadership from Mr. Lang in Septem ber through tho decision of caucus, the discontent simmered until the special conference of tho party a fortnight ago vested in Air. Lang the leadership of the party for; the remainder of the life of this Parliament. It was not long before the blow fell. The recognised loader of tho country members, Air. P. F. Loughlin, then Alinister of Lands, flung the gauntlet down to his leader by resigning his portfolio last Thursday. To an excited Assembly the ne\t day ho recited his reasons, in calm, phlegmatic tones that carried evidence of his earnestness and sincerity. In brief, tho reasons were that Air. Lang had persisted in exorcising a dictatorship in Parliament and among his party, while he had allowed himself to be subjugated to a dictatorship ol: the extreme industrialist section outside Parliament.. He demanded that as the price of allegiance Air. Lang should oither resign from the leadership or rid himself from the incubus of his outside influences.

Everyone knew that by "outside" inv fluenccs Mr. Loughlin meant Air. J. S. Garden and his group of Comm.umst friends, between whom and Air. Lang the link is Air. A. C. Willis, a member of the Legislative Council, and Vice-Presi-dent of the Executive Council. In party conclaves, Air. Loughlin demanded that Air. Willis should disappear from the Ministry. Aleanwhile, the Premier's staunchest henchman, the Attorney-Gen-eral, Air. AlcTiernan, acting as a go between, had secured a promise from Air. Loughlin not to oppose an adjournment of the House until Monday, on condition that sincere efforts were made during the week-end to eradicate Air. Loughlin's ground for complaint. The Meeting of Caucus.

What dramatic negotiations went on during the week-end are not yet fully known. What is known is this—Caucus met and referred the question of tho endorsement of Air. .Lang's leadership to tho Australian Labour Party's executive. The executive interpreted it in the only possible way, that Mr, Lang had been given full power for the next 18 or '2O months. Representatives went to Messrs. Loughling, Goodin and Gillies, beseeching them not to wreck the Labour Government. They remained adamant. Others went to Air. Lang to ask him to resign.. He remained equally adamant. At midnight on Sunday, after more than 4F hours of intense negotiation, it remained plain that the issue must bo fought on: on the floor of the House.

And it was. On the Monday, before crowded galleries and a full House, with the atmosphere electrical with expectancy, the most gripping incident of recent New South Wales politicsi was given the full glare of publicity. The three insurgents stuck 4c their gun!>, and on an earlv motion to decide whether a censure motion by the Leader of tho Opposition should be treated as a matter of urgency, they voted with the Opposition, and the Lang Govemnment met its first defeat in tha Assembly by 45 votes to 44, an Inde pendent !voting with the Government That seemed to presage a certain Government defeat on the major motion, but it was not to be. The gunpowder plot proved to bo a squib. Mr. Lang Staves off Defeat.

After many speeches had been made, including those of the three insurgents, and after Mr. Lang had promised to re construct his Budget, including the drastic proposals against which the Country Labour members had so determinedly fought, a vote was taken and the Government won by 44 votes to 42, and an adjournment was granted until Monday. This happy result—for the Lang Government—was achieved by the three rebels absenting themselves from the division. This action they took on the promise of an election within four months, but even this is now said by the newspaper repreclosest to Mr. Lang's confidence, the political correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, to bo improbable.