INDEMNITY BILL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1975, 4 February 1914, Page 7

INDEMNITY BILL.

TO BE DEBATED 10-DAY. GOVERNMENT DEFENCE AWAITED. FIERY LABOUR SPEECHES. TALI OF REVOLUTION. fiy Teleer&jjh—Pkbs Association—Coj>y*iirot Cape ToVJn, February 2. When the* Union House of Representatives resumed, there were -crowded galleries and much, 'excitement among members. ' Tho Speaker disallowed th.6 Labour motion for an adjournment with-a view to instructing the- Government to intercept the limgeni, in which, arc tho deported Labour leaders. General Smuts, Defence Minister) moved for leave to introduce an indemnity Bill. Sir Thomas Smartt, Leader of the Opposition,, said he bad no desiro to, oppose the motion, because it was the Government's duty to maintain law and order at all hazards; bit* General Smuts should first have explained tho reasons for martial law being proclaimed and tho Government act-ians under that law. Mr. CreisWeil's (Labour) amendment, which was equivalent to a niotvMi of censure, was ~ rejected. Only the Labourites suppartel it. The Bill ivas read a first time, the voting being- similar to that on tho amendment. ' LABOUR ATTACK. GOVERNMENT DECLINES TO BE DRAWN. (Rec. -.February. S, 10.60 p.m.) Ga'pe Tow, February 3. Tho Indemnity Bill charges the deported men with Creating _ unrest, fomenting h-. .strike, g-nd inciting wageearners to unlawfully leave- their Work, The sonate has decided to await the Government's statement before disojjssing tho reasons for martial law being proclaimed. Mr. Cress-WeU, during the debate on the first reading, argued that jwst a single act), committed, by the. strikers, justified martial law being proclaimed. General Botha, and his colleagues. wore tho real criminals, ho. said. They,were the plotters, for violence and. they had. -.been guilty of brigandage. So pleaded for Parliament to 'protect the liberty of tho subject. Mr'.' Andrews- shafged the burghers ,witli being totally Undisciplined,:' The,y had' resorted to violence, he said, and had used the sjambok on.-unoffending' people '■■:'■; Messrs. Sheets and Baggar said that the movement Was not crushed. ' They predicted a revolution, when tho weapons would be an tin), side of the revolutionaries and not on tho side of the .Government, The Opposition-'was awaiting General Smuts's.defencei while the Government refused to bo drawn into tho _ debate until the second reading. Which is. to be' taken on Wednesday.

MR. CRESSMELi'S SCHEME. FAILEIkIN THe'eXEDUTION. Cape Town, February 2. - Mr. CresSwell,-*itli raportars. from ; the ''Advocate,'"' tried to intercept the Umgeni by mews .of s tug aft Cape Town, in order to olilifjo the cji.ptain to release tho ■forcibly-detained deporteds, ■ Tho tug, ..Trovysyer, was -two ']iours ; ]a,io.. Elaborate precautions liad been, -taken to rescue tho deporteds if they escaped overboard. •

IN THE HOUSE OFCOMMONS, LABOUR CONDEMNATION, tondbn, February 2, Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, Labour M.P., states- that an official Labour amendment will ■bo moved to the Ad-drOss-in-Reply in the House '-of Commons concerning the Tho Labour 'party's, executive is obtaining legal advice with a view to proceeding against the tJimgeni's captain. and owners for illegal detention. ; Labour gatlietfruts during the weekend vehemently ', condemned General Botha and Lord Gladstone lit connection with the deporting of Labour leaders from South Africa,.