BACK-STAIR METHODS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 61, 3 June 1927, Page 9

BACK-STAIR METHODS

ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S POWER CRITICISM IN COMMONS By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, Wednesday. In the House of Commons to-day the committee stages debate on the Trade Disputes and Trades Unions Bill was continued. The Attorney-General, Sir Douglas Hogg, moved Clause 7. This gives the Attorney-General, in addition to any persons interested, the power to apply for an injunction to restrain any application of the funds of a trade union to an illegal strike or to any other purpose in contravention of the provisions of the Bill. There ensued a legal duel between Sir Douglas and Mr. E. A. Harney, K.C. f Liberal member for South Shields. The latter assailed the clause as “a back-stair method of giving the Attorney-General unprecedented powers.” Sir Douglas quoted at length statutes and precedents. Mr. Harney indignantly protested that the Minister was supercilious and patronising. Thereupon the Conservatives shouted him down. Sir Douglas explained that the clause would apply to unions of employers in exactly the same way as to unions of workmen. If an individual employer supported a lock-out and utilised private funds for such a purpose he would be liable to three months’ imprisonment. The clause was carried by 235 votes to 135. —A. and N.Z.