1928 Royal Commission on allegations of political bribery, 1928

Component identifier:

Series 35

Content Summary:

In 1928 Judge Edward Scholes was appointed a Royal Commissioner to investigate allegations by a Labor parliamentarian W. H. Lambert that, following the failure of E. G. Theodore to win the Federal seat of Herbert in 1925, financial inducements were offered to Lambert, P. E. Coleman, F. Anstey, and W. G. Mahony to resign their seats. Mahony did, in fact, resign as the Member for Dalley in January 1927 and Theodore won the subsequent by-election. The Commission concluded that Coleman and Mahony were offered money and that Mahony accepted the offer (probably £5,000), but that there was no evidence as to who offered or gave the money.

The papers in this small series include the report of the Royal Commission (July 1928), notes on counsels' fees, an opinion given to Latham, as Attorney-General, by J. E. Lamb and A. J. Hill on whether proceedings should be instituted against any individual mentioned in the report, and a Cabinet paper by Latham on the same subject (26 July 1928). There are also some newscuttings.

Comprises File 1 (Items 1-28).

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.

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