RESTS UPON SOLID GROUNDS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20586, 27 November 1936, Page 9

RESTS UPON SOLID GROUNDS

STATE CABINET AND FREER CASE

SENSATIONAL NEWSPAPER ALLEGATIONS United press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, November 26. The Canberra correspondent of “The Sun” says that the leader of the Opposition (Mr Curtom, does not intend to bring the Labour Party into the Freer dispute. “The question of whether the prohibition of Mrs Freer is justified depends upon the facts,” said Mr Curtin. “I do not know the facts, and the Minister refuses to make them public.” The correspondent adds that the Minister (Mr T. S. Paterson) declared that he had no Intention of resigning. He added: “Our case rests upon solid grounds, and no additional information from any source can make any difference.”

Replying to Mr James (Labour) in the House of Representatives, who asked whether Mr Paterson intended to resign as a result of the disclosures in a section of the press, the Prime Minister said the Minister of the Interior had no intention of resigning, and the Cabinet had no Intention of asking him to do so. The Attorney-General (Mr Menzies) announced that the letter from Mrs Freer’s New Zealand solicitor was at present under consideration.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS ANTICIPATED

NEWSPAPER REVELATION United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, November 26. The “Daily Telegraph” publishes details of correspondence, which it is alleged, passed between Mr Paterson and a man residing in Sydney in the former’s “efforts to obtain further evidence to support the banishment of Mrs Freer.”

The “Daily Telegraph” says: “One of the highlights is that the informant does not now pretend that the ‘information’ referred to the Mrs Freer who was banned.”

Another significant point is that after the man sent the “information” to M!r Paterson, he wrote suggesting that as a reward he should be given a job. In reply Mr Paterson said: “You can rest assured that immediately I hear of something I think would suit you, I will use my best endeavours on your behalf.”

The “Daily Telegraph” alleged that the criminal record of the Informant includes convictions for false pretences and perjury, and adds: “All that remains to be said now is that Mr J. A Lyons has no alternative but to call for the immediate resignation of Mr Paterson. Unless this is done, the public will certainly call for the resignation of the Lyons Government.” “The Herald,” in a leader, reviews the Freer case at length. It says that obviously the power of exclusion, which is a valuable and important one for national policy, should not be used for petty, personal or domestic reasons. “The Cabinet has three courses open to it: it should either give fully the reasons for the Freer ban, and thus justify its stand; refer the case to an inquiry; or admit frankly that it made a mistake, and rectify it in an honourable way by allowing Mrs Freer to land.”