POLITICAL CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 9

POLITICAL CRISIS

N.S.W. ASSEMBLY

MOTION BY MR. SPOONER

TAKEN AS ONE OF CENSURE

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

SYDNEY, August 2. The strained relations betAveen the New South Wales Premier, Mr. Stevens, ancl the former Minister of Public Works and Local Government, Mr. Spooner, Avhose resignation Avas announced last month, reached a climax in the Legislative Assembly today consequent upon a motion moved by Mr. Spooner recommending a neAv financial policy for 1939-40 and the creation of a special trust account for the proceeds of the wages and special income taxes, which must be used exclusively for the relief of unemployment. In the course of his reply to bitter criticism by Mr. Spooner, the Premier announced that he had decided to regard Mr. Spooner's motion as one of direct censure on the Government. . OFFER OF CONSTRUCTIVE AID. Mr. Spooner repudiated the censure suggestion, and said that his motion represented an attempt to offer constructive assistance. He declared that the Premier had neglected the State's finances about the time he (Mr. Stevens) was seeking to enter Federal politics, and now "he is trying to take it out of the hides of the unemployed."

Mr. Spooner claimed that the true deficit for 1938-39 was £4,350,000 and not £2,750,000, as represented by the Treasurer. Moreover, a sum of £ 1,000,000 voted by Parliament for unemployment relief had been applied instead to a reduction of the real deficit, while £1,000,000 which had eventually been applied to the unemployed had been obtained in such a manner that it would not shoAv as part of the general deficit. Mr. Spooner said that the Government still had no policy and was heading for a tailspin. PREMIER'S REPUDIATION. The Premier, replying, declared that Mr. Spooner would live to regret his speech. Mr. Stevens said he resented the suggestion that he could not be trusted, and repudiated the allegation of negligence in handling the State finances. In and out of season, he said, he had taken steps to rectify the financial drift. Mr. Spooner had attended several' special Cabinet meetings at Avhich he had warned his colleagues of the dangers ahead, and should have taken the honourable course of telling the House what had occurred at the Cabinet meetings on the subject. The Premier also answered Mr. Spooner's criticism relating to the deficit, disclaiming any attempt at manipulation of the taxation funds, and added that the Government was already considering a proposal to separate the wages and unemployment taxes from ordinary revenue. CLOSE DIVISION EXPECTED. The Assembly adjourned till tomorrow, when a diAdsion on the censure motion is expected to be very close. Several Government supporters are likely to cross the floor of the House. Defeat of the Stevens Government would involve either a dissolution or Mr. Spooner accepting a commission to form a Ministry.