DEFEAT UNEXPECTED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 94, 11 December 1931, Page 7

DEFEAT UNEXPECTED

BEASLEY GROUP STARTED SOMETH.ING IT COULD - NOT CONTROL. SCULLIN GOVERMENT'S FALL. It is now possible to obtain a clearer perspective of some of the events of this eventful wek, says the Sydney Sun's special Parliamentary correspondent, referring to the defeat of the Federal Government. This perspective emphasises that the defeat of the Government was not carefully arranged, despite statements to the contrary. Ever since the vote was taken, certain members have been proclaiming loudly that they knew days beforehand exactly what was going to happen. These assumptions of inside knowledge are amusing when contrasted with the teverish anxiety of of the self-same members prior to | the vote. ! It is being said that a definite ar- • rangement had 1 een drawn up days before between the Beasley Group and the Opposition Party. Actually nothing of the sort was done. Afthough fee ers had been thrown j out, they had come to nought. This is proved by the fact that at lunch time on the vital day 10 to 1 was being freely offered in the Opposition lobbies against the Government being defeated, and there were no takers. It is increasingly clear also that the Beasley Group was the servant of circumstances and not their master. It set something in motion which it could not control. When Mr. Scullin issued his challenge it had to go on, because the alternative was ignominious withdrawal, but it did not wish to destroy the Scullin Government and feared the repercussions of the defeat upon itself. Clearest of all is the fact that the campaign now feverishly proceeding sprang from Mr. Scullin's burst of oratory and his eloquent challenge at 4.45 p.m. Some say that Mr. Scul- , lin was carried away by his own eloquence. The Prime Minister himself, however, has informed his confidants that he decided that the Government must test its fate at once.