Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1931.

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 11, 14 January 1931, Page 8

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1931.

MR. SCULLIN'S VOLTE FACE

The interest of Australia's drama has been greatly increased by the return of Mr. Scullin on Saturday from the Imperial Conference, but we are Compelled to add that its gloom has not been diminished; It was in August, immediately after the Conference of State Premiers and Treasurers had adopted that programme of balancing their Budgets, reducing expenditure, and avoiding the increase of taxation in which lies Australia's hope of recovery, that Mr. Scullin sailed for London to attend the Imperial Conference. It was a grievous blow for the country that its Prime Minister should leave his post at such a time, but it would have been more grieVous still if it had lost him altogether. Such had been the effect of the appalling strain ! upon his health that, even if he had been going on a holiday trip, there would have been no need to grudge it. Conversely, therefore, the first word in our report of Mr. Scullin's return covered the most essential point of all when it declared him to be "looking much improved in health." In view, however, of the immense aggravation of Australia's malady by the policy of drift which has been forced upon his colleagues by dissensions during his absence it is irnpfissible to feel any confidence that the improvement in his health has made him strong enough for the labours, the perplexities, and the perils that he has to face. Apart from Mr. Sculliri's improved health and the enthusiastic welcome, the general impression made by his Opening statement is far from reassuring. Did, indeed, he display his usual good sense when he declared his conviction

that there was little hope of securing an immediate loaii on the London market with Australian 5 per cent. £100 bonds on. offer as low as £.79,

and that "when financiers definitely got it out of their heads that Australia was likely to default" a return of prosperity might be expected? But otherwise there was little that was hopeful or helpful in a speech which he had had all the weeks of his long voyage to prepare. With more than half of Australia's financial year gone, it Was doubtless impossible to promise the balancing of the Budget, and "a further trimming down of expenditure" may be all that he could attempt.' But the statement had the negative air of a man on his defence, and contained no suggestion at all of a vigorous and hopeful initiative. The only fighting note was in the emphatic repudiation of "the caucus plan for dangerous, uncontrolled inflation," but everi here the epithets imply that a 'certain degree of in : flatiori may be free from danger* aild thus suggest the possibility of compromise; But all these statements, good and bad alike, are overshadfiwed by thbse to which, With a singular maladrOitness fOf so expert a tactician, Mr. SculHri gave the place of honour in his speech, irh^ mediately after the formal acknowledgment 6f his welcOnie:—

He added that his main desire was to be relieved of the position, of Treasurer, and frankly said he would like Mr. E. G. Theodore bade in the Cabinet.

Whether from the standpoint of Mr. Scullih himself or from that of his country, there is an infinite pathos ■in these words. In their personal aspect they seem to be the words not of a strong but of a sick man. To take them as meaning that Mr. Scullin is giving the desire for personal relief priority over the desire to serve his country might be regarded as captious cfiticisihi but, if so, it is the kind tit criticism which a 1 very little of the tact displayed by him in aburidarice at the Imperial Conference Would have enabled him to avoid; To 3Uch criticism it would* however^ be a perfectly fait answer on the merits to say that a man who does not feel strong enough for a public position of great importance is consulting his country's interests just as miich as his own when he frankly says 3d. Mr. Scullin might also say that at such a time as this the combined responsibilities of the two riirist important offices in the public: service are more than even the strongest of men in the pink of condition should be asked to carry, and that he has no intention of abandoning the Hiore important of the two. Even so, however, ft would have beeri sotind tactics to refrain at the outset from any confession of weakness and to convey an impression of stfertgth and hope and resolution. That Mr. Scullin did rtot take this course suggests fears for his physical weakness which arfe stronger than the hopes inspired by the report of the apparent improvement in his health. '

The pathos of Mr. Scullin's confession is increased when one recalls the circumstances in which he took 6vef the second burden. On the very eve of the bringing down of Mr. Theodora's Budget the grave disclosures of a Rdyal Commission compelled him to resign the Treas* urcrship until he had cleared his character; It was only by an astonishing feat of industry riiid courage that the overworked Prime Minister Was able to take over the portfolio and the Budget at a lew hours' notice* and. it was this climax of his troubles that turned his hahr white and nearfy

broke him up. Whatever may be the extent of his recovery, it is natural that he should wince at the thought of shouldering the double burden again, and that he should be looking for relief to the strong man from whom he took the second portfolio over. But this brings us to the pathetic, not to say the tragic, aspect of the matter from the standpoint of the nation. Mr. Theodore, who left the Cabinet under a cloud, is still there, and must apparently remain there for three months at least. But this disability has not prevented his retaining or recovering the confidence of the party, and as the leader of its Red Left Wing he lias been the chief thorn in the sidd of the moderate men in the Cabinet who have endeavoured to carry out the Scullin policy and make ends meet. Every word that Mr. Scullin had to say in London against repudiation and in favour of sound finance was taken to be aimed at Mr. Theodore and his Reds. Yet Mr. Scullin's first words on landing in Australia ■ are in favour of the readmission of Mr. Theodore to his Cabinet!

If Mr. Scullin supposed that by this astounding Volte face, combined with his implied approval of a certain measure of inflation, he would open the way for a compromise with the extremists, he had not long to wait for an answer. A conference of the executive of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labour Party and the New South Wales members of the Federal Parliament was reported yesterday to have

reaffirmed its decision in favour of inflation and decided to notify the Prime Minister that his assistance in the Parkes by-election was not required unless he was prepared to agree to advocate inflation.

At this conference Mr. Theodore was the principal speaker, and the resolution is regarded as a sweeping victory fof his faction, and is obviously a vote of no-confidence in the Scullin Cabinet.

He violently attacked the banks and financial institutions, and declared that Ajistralid needed not a mere £20,000,----000, but required actually £■ 120,000,----000, as well as a Federal Reserve Bank.

Mr. Theodore would obviously be less out of place in Mr. Lang's Cabinet than in Mr. Scullin's. Instead of bringing any hope of alleviation to his country the retufh of the Prime Minister has made confusion wofs6 Confounded; The gloom which overshadows Australia is deeper than before.