FORMER PREMIER’S CLAIM

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1934, Page 7

FORMER PREMIER’S CLAIM

DISPUTES WITH HIS PARTY ENDORSEMENT AS CANDIDATE VICTORIAN COURT DECISION REVERSAL BY HIGH COURT By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 11.40 p.m. Sydney, Aug. 3. The High Court of Australia allowed an appeal against the decision of Mr. Justice Duffy in the Victorian Supreme Court, who had awarded E. J. Hogan, a former Premier of Victoria, one shilling damages against the central executive of the Australian Labour Party in Victoria. ' Hogan had brought an action in the Victorian Supreme Court, claiming, inter alia, that his withdrawal from selection or his non-ehdorsement as a Labour candidate in the 'Victorian parliamentary elections was wrongful, and asking for an injunction restraining the executive from acting on or carrying into effect the' exclusion, and for such other relief as might seem just. In the High Court Justices Rich, Dixon, Evatt and McTiernan at the conclusion of a long judgment said the policy of the law was against interference in the affairs of voluntary associations, which did not confer upon members civil rights susceptible of private enjoyment. The question whether the central committee had acted in accordance or contrary to the true meaning'of the rules was not one of which the court took cognisance.

Mr. Justice Starke stated in his judgment that the Hogan Government had become a party to the Premiers’ Plan, which involved a reduction in expenditure, including wages, salaries, pensions and interest. The central executive subsequently refused to endorse Hogan’s nomination and excluded him from the party. It seemed to him Hogan should have sought redress for his undoubted grievances in the remedies provided by the rules themselves, namely, an appeal to the annual conference and, if necessary, to the Federal Conference.