LABOUR AND MR. CLEARY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 30, 5 February 1931, Page 12

LABOUR AND MR. CLEARY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, 21st January. .The fact that the position of , the Chief Railways Commissioner of NewSouth Wales, Mr. Cleary, is in x jeopardy, in the process of handing the trains, trams, and roads over to the politicians, is an example of the depths to which political control can sink in Australia, and one hopes such a state of affairs as exists here will never come to pass in Australia. Mr. Cleary, obviously handicapped' by economic conditions, is one of the1 State's keenest business men, who, sacrificed big private commercial interests because of a desire to render public service in this important field- of ' State activity. He is generally sup-, posed to be fortified by Act of Parlia-j xnent, but under the present Labour j Government no ODe who happens to [ be a lion in the path of the party in i power appears to bo quite safe. Mr.' Cleary's statutory salary is £5000—he I was offered more by the, last Govern-1 ment and. refused ifr-^but his actual salary is about £1500, for ho has yol-' untarily sacrificed the greatest portion of it in the relief of distress. '■■'■Mr. Cleary has devoted practically the -whole of his life-and a great deal of _ hiß money on the altar of publicspirited service. If a man of the unquestioned ability of Mr. Cleary is brought to heel by the Labour bosses, it will be an exquisite example of the ruthlessness of politcal interference.