Paving the New Road Read Online Free

Friday
Mr. Stevens declared that he was not an extremist. “I claim to be a democrat,” he said. “I would like to see our democratic institutions preserved. There are some who want to wreck our democratic institutions. On the one hand, there are those who want to socialise them by political domination by the Trades Hall bosses. There are a few people who talk about Fascism, and who want to govern this country by a commission.”
A voice: Such as Eric Campbell.
The Premier: I do not know Eric Campbell, but if he or anybody else talks about ruling this country by Fascism or commission I will deal with him. (Cheers.)
The Sydney Morning Herald, 1933
    I t was dark by the time Charles Hardy left Woodlands House .
    “I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said as he shook Rowland’s hand. “There are several matters we need to organise and of course I’ll need to introduce you to Smithy. I’m so glad to have you on board, Rowly.”
    Rowland walked him to the car and chauffeur who had waited all this time in the sweeping drive of the Woollahra mansion.
    He checked his watch, noting that the smoke had cleared. His houseguests had obviously managed to get the fire under control without him.
    Returning through the house he found them sitting about the glowing pit. The fuel had burned down to a large mound of radiant charcoal. It was pleasant in the cool of the early April evening. Edna made room for him beside her on the garden chair. “You’ve been a while, Rowly … What did the Senator say?”
    “Did you get the fire up to the heat you wanted?” he asked, looking towards the pit.
    Edna nodded. “A couple of smaller pieces exploded a while ago, but I think we’ve got the temperature right, finally. We just have to wait and watch now.”
    “Which gives you plenty of time to tell us what Hardy wanted with you,” Milton said. “What’s going on, Rowly?”
    Clyde agreed. “You look a bit worried, mate.”
    So Rowland told them what Charles Hardy had asked of him, and why he had reluctantly agreed. For the most part they listened in silence.
    “I can at the very least speak German. I can’t imagine why they would consider sending spies over there who can’t speak the language.”
    Clyde shook his head. “I always thought that the Old Guard and Campbell were essentially on the same side.”
    “It seems that even with Lang’s demise, Campbell’s not willing to leave things to democracy,” Rowland replied. “This chap Hitler’s sudden rise has the Old Guard worried that Campbell may try to emulate him here.”
    “So what exactly do they want you to do over there?”
    “Apparently the Old Guard has some chap called Blanshard travelling with Campbell. He’s been working to undermine Campbell’s attempts to make real allegiances with the British and European Blackshirts.”
    “How?”
    “As far as I can tell, he’s been creating quiet obstacles … making sure that Campbell doesn’t get to meetings, or that he makes some kind of social faux pas . Campbell doesn’t seem to speak anything but English, and a bit of grammar school Latin and French, so they’re expecting it to become easier once the good Colonel is relying on Blanshard to translate.”
    “So why do they need you?”
    “Apparently there are some things Blanshard can’t do alone. He needs another operative on hand to make sure that things go wrong whenever it looks like important contacts are being made.”
    “And they want you to be that operative in Germany, to replace this dead chap, Bothwell?”
    Rowland nodded. “Bothwell was supposed to assist Blanshard. He’d been in Germany for a few weeks establishing contacts and so on when he died. Fortunately the fascist sightseeing tour isn’t due to reach Germany until May, so they want to replace Bothwell as soon as possible. Of course, Hardy seems to think there was something suspicious about Bothwell’s death, so he wants me to look into that as well …”
    “And try not to get killed yourself,