N.S.W. POLITICAL CRISIS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 48, 20 November 1926, Page 9

N.S.W. POLITICAL CRISIS

HASTENED BY ISSUE CS PROCLAMATION WITHOUT CONSULTING LABOUR CAUCUS Sydney, November It is understood that the pcffifcsS crisis was to some extent hastened . by the unexpected issue of a proclamatian bringing into operation the B£B recently passed providing for single Parliamentary seats, in place of the former proportional representation system. This step was taken after a meeting of the Executive Council, and without consulting the Labour caucus, which had anticipated that it would be given an opportunity of expressing its opinion on the subject. Many mem? bers on both sides are opposed to UM redistribution scheme, and the arpfr trary assumption by Mr. Lang of tfte powers conferred upon him at the recent Australian Party Conference is strongly resented by some metnbgs of his party, including Mr. Loughlttt. TAX ON PERIODICALS CONDEMNED London, November 18. The “Evening Standard” declares that it is impossible to believe that Mr Lang’s halfpenny tax on periodicals would pass in any English-speak-ing countrv. There never was. a more convinced or determined agitation than that against the tax on knowledge which resulted in the abolition of the newspaper tax in 1855. Presumably the proposal includes books, which should make the outcry all the greater in a country with a new and struggling literary class.