THE FREER CASE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 281, 27 November 1936, Page 7

THE FREER CASE

MINISTER STANDS FIRM NO INTENTION OF RESIGNING. IBy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright] Received Nov. 26, 11.30 p.m. SYDNEY, Nov. 26. The Sydney Sun's Canberra correspondent states that the Leader o£ the Opposition, Mr. Curtin, does not intend to bring the Labour Party into the Freer dispute. Mr. Curtin said the question ot whether prohibition o£ Mrs. Freer is justified depends upon the facts. i do not know the facts and the Minister refuses to make them public." The Sun correspondent adds that the Minister, Mr. 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 or tne disclosures in a section of the Press, the Prime Minister said that the Minister of the Interior had no intention of resigning and Cabinet had no intention of asking him to do so. The Attorney-General, Mr. Menzies, announced that a letter from Mrs. Freer’s New Zealand solicitor would be under consideration in the near future. REMARKABLE REPORT SYDNEY’S PAPER'S STORY WILL MINISTER RESIGN? SYDNEY, Nov. 26. The Daily Telegraph publishes details of the correspondence which, it alleges, passed between the Hon. T. Paterson and a man residing in Sydney. In the former's “efforts to obtain further evidence to support the banishment of Mrs. Freer.” the 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 Mr. Paterson, he wrote suggesting as a reward that 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 Telegraph alleges 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. 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 Sydney Morning 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. “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 inquiry, or admit frankly that it has made a mistake and rectify it in an honourable way by allowing Mrs. Freer to land.”