N.S.W. GOVERNMENT DEFEATED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 263, 4 August 1939, Page 9

N.S.W. GOVERNMENT DEFEATED

Two-Vote Margin On The Censure Motion VITAL DECISION NOW TO BE TAKEN Dissolution Or Commission For Spooner Or Lang (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) (Received August 3, 11.10 p.m.) SYDNEY, August 3. In the Legislative Assembly this afternoon the Stevens Government was defeated by 43 votes to 41 on the motion of the former Minister of Works and Local Government, Mr. Spooner, which the Premier treated as a censure. ' 41 The House immediately adjourned till Tuesday to enable the Government to consider the position. Ten United Australia Party members, otherwise Government supporters, crossed the floor of the House, and also one Independent member voted for the motion. The Government’s defeat was cheered even in the galleries, which were crowded out. A large crowd outside also cheered. It was quite evident that the Premier is not politically popular in certain quarters. Mr. Stevens himself was nonplussed by the vital verdict and left the chamber dispiritedly. The tenor of today’s debate was acrimonious, several Government supporters indulging in biting criticism of the Premier’s dictatorial methods. The question of whether a dissolution will be granted or whether Mr. Spooner or the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Lang, will be commissioned to form a new Ministrywill be decided later tonight. Mr. Spooner, who for long had been termed the political twin of the Premier, due to their lengthy terms in Cabinet and particularly close and friendly association with each other, left the Cabinet several weeks ago as a result of a dispute over the Government's relief works policy‘and a decision to place some of Mr. Spooner’s powers under the control of a commission. In the Assembly on Wednesday Mr. Spooner, attacking Mr. Stevens’s financial policy, submitted a motion recommending a new policy for 1939-40. In the course of his reply to bitter criticism by Mr. Spooner, the Premier announced that he had decided to regard the motion as one of direct censure on the Government. Mr. Spooner repudiated the censure suggestion, and said that his motion represented an attempt to offer constructive assistance.