1926 Crimes Act, 1920-1928
- Component identifier:
- Series 27
- Content Summary:
-
On 18 December 1925 Latham took up office as Attorney-General in the Bruce-Page Government. His first task was to draft legislation to deal with the serious maritime strikes and threats to essential services which had occurred throughout 1925. An attempt by the Government to deport Tom Walsh and Jacob Johnson, leaders of the Seamen's Union, had been blocked by the High Court in November 1925. Latham introduced a Crimes Bill in Parliament in January 1926 and it was passed in March 1926.
This small series has copies of the 1926 Crimes Bill, heavily annotated by Latham, copies of his second reading speech, notes on the 1925 Peace Officers Act, many handwritten notes for his speech on the Crimes Bill, a memorandum on deportation and a typescript entitled 'The Communist menace in Australia'. There are also articles on Communism and the Seamen's Union taken from the London Times, The Argus, The Age, Daily News, Workers Weekly and Worker (1925-1928) and issues of The Communist, The Young Communist Workers Weekly, and Australian Communist (1920-1925).
Comprises Files 1-6 (Items 1-247).
- Immediate source of acquisition:
- The bulk of the collection was presented to the National Library by Sir John Latham in December 1963, a few months before his death. In November 1974 the Library purchased some further papers from a secondhand book dealer. They comprised family letters and photographs, some diaries and papers relating to the High Court. These papers have been amalgamated into the original collection.
Access and use
- Parent Restrictions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
- Parent Terms of Access:
- Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: