STATE’S APPEAL TO CROWN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19986, 19 December 1934, Page 9

STATE’S APPEAL TO CROWN

PETITIONS OF WEST AUSTRALIA

INTENSE INTEREST IN ENGLAND British Official Wireless (Received December 18, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY. December 17. A petition on behalf of the Government, the Parliament and people of the State of Western Australia, for leave to withdraw from the Australian Federation, and for the restoration of their former status as a separate self-governing colony, within the British Empire was presented in both Houses of Parliament. As presented in the House of Commons, the petition consists of a scroll 26ft long, encased in a handsome polished jar rah casket. It was deposited in the petition box behind the speakers chair, and will be examined in due course by the Public Petitions Committee.

In the House of Lords, the Marquis of Aberdeen, in presenting the petition, said the right of petitioning the Crown was a fundamental principle of the constitution, and it was in order to afford the State of Western Australia facilities for availing themselves of this right, that he presented the petition ATTITUDE OF CABINET IMPORTANT ISSUE RAISED United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph —Copyright LONDON, December 17. When Lord Aberdeen presented the Western Australian secession petition in the House of Lords, Lord Hailsham said it raised matters of grave constitutional importance. Having regard to the present relationships between the Dominions and Britain, the position was not free from doubt, and could not be hastily determined. Before reception of the petition, he hoped the House would give him until the re-assembly in January to consider the issues, and advise the House on the most convenient manner of dealing with them. The House agreed to this course.