RACIAL BITTERNESS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 24 December 1925, Page 16

RACIAL BITTERNESS

AN ELECTION CIRCULAR. FEELING AMONG SETTLERS. A week or so before the date of the Federal election a circular which appeared in the Hume electorate, New South Wales, aroused much comment. Purporting to be signed by three settlers of German descent, who had been interned during the war, it bore the caption, “Lest We Forget.” It was sent to settlers in the electorate, mainly round Albury and Holbrook, which before the war was called Germanton, and called upon this section, who probably number about 2000, to vote against the Nationalist and Country Party candidates owing to the policy adopted by the Nationalists during the war. Bad feeling was immediately engendered among the settlers of German descent, many of whom looked upon the circular as an attempt to stir up racial hatred for the political advantage of the Labour Party. As Mr Parker Moloney (Labour) has such a strong hold on the electorate, the circular made little difference to the result of the poll, but it has had a curious aftermath. The three signatories were Messrs H. A. Paech, O. E. Heppner and E. G. Weneke. The last-named has since denied in a letter to the local press that he had any share in the circular. The other two stuck to their statements. Paech is a retired grazier, living at Albury, and has a large personal following. Like his father, he is Aus-tralian-born. He was recently elected a councillor of the Culcairn Shire. Heppner also sought honours at the recent local government elections, and was returned unopposed for a riding of the Hume Shire. Three councillors, who were returned unopposed for another riding, thereupon announced their intention not to take their scats at the shire council’s meetings at which any of the three who had signed the circular was present. Labour Flocks to Meeting.

This immediately fanned the flames of bad feeling, created during the Federal election, into life again. A meeting of protest was convened at a township near Albury by a committee of German descent and prominent landowners of the district. But Labour rallied to its election time friends, and they flooded from all the surrounding centres to the meeting place. When the meeting opened Labour supporters and sympathisers of the objects of the meeting —to protest against the circular —were in equal numbers. The Labour supporters immediately took charge of the meeting, and vigorously hooted the conveners when they appeared on the platform. Paech was among those present and he harangued the chairman (Mr Lindner) continually. Conclusion in Darkness. There was only one policeman present. He was unable to control the Labour supporters, who proceeded to elect a chairman in spite of Mr Lindner’s protests against the use of the hall by any except those who had paid for it. As soon as the Labour chairman approached the platform he was struck in the face, and a free fight ensued. The Labour contingent rushed the stage, but further disturbance was prevented by the police officer, who informed the Labour chairman that he could not occupy the platform. The Labour chairman then took charge of the meeting from the body of the hall. Left in possession, the Labour contingent proceeded to carry a resolution eulogising the “Lest We Forget’’ circular, and affirming that Labour’s opponents had distorted the meaning of the circular to foment race hatred. Then someone turned off the gas, but undismayed the Labour advocates continued their harangue in semi-darkness. Mr Lindner afterwards stated that the meetings he convened was intended to convey an expression of allegiance to the King, support of British institutions, and a sincere wish for the cultivation of happy and trusting relationships between people of German descent and those of British stock. Albury’s little war is creating widespread interest.