ANTI-BRIBERY LEAGUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21985, 21 June 1933, Page 8

ANTI-BRIBERY LEAGUE

AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPMENT ATTACK OK POLITICIANS. Two interesting developments in business life were observed by Mr C. M. Ollivier during a brief stay in Australia, from which he returned to Christchurch on Wednesday. The first was the decision of the New South Wales Governmont that the Government Insurance Office was to abandon all business outsidt* Government risks, whether fire, accident, or workers’ compensation. This was a typical result of the trend of public opinion against Socialism in all its forms.

The second noteworthy matter of which Mr Ollivier spoke to a representative of the Press was the formation and registration as a company of the Bribery and Secret Commissions League, which was said to have been created “to wage relentless war on grafters,” and based its hopes on propaganda in the first place and later perhaps on direct action by investigation and prosecution. Several prominent Sydney business men had been among the first subscribers to the league, and 1000 members of the Rotary movement had indicated that they would join. The league proposed to direct its attention at the outset to the organisation of business men, instruction in schools, and the cultivation of public opinion against corruption. The secretary was reported to have said that it was hoped that the very knowledge of the league’s existence would cause men to hesitate in the act of bribing. “ Like the people of New Zealand,” said Mr Ollivier, “ the people of Australia are fed up with politicians. Apart from the Bribery and Secret Commissions League, the New Guard, though quiescent, retains its complete organisation in New South Wales. The aims and objects of these two bodies are similar to those of the New Zealand Legion, but are more militant. , Politicians seem to have lost all sense of their responsibilities, and the opinion has been expressed that some action should be taken- to punish these men for their breaches Of trust. Graft is not confined to actual bribery, but includes interference with the liberty of the subject to please the mob, action on these lines being so wide in its application as to constitute another form of graft. ‘ If the New Zealand organisation considers, as its objects the righting of some of these things its time will be fully occupied.