N.S.W. BY-ELECTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1932, Page 11

N.S.W. BY-ELECTION.

LANGITES HOLD SEAT.

MAJORITY REDUCED. BISSENSION IN PABTT. (Prom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 16. The death, of Mr. B. C. Olde a' few weeks back left the Leichhardt seat vacant, and it lias 'now been filled by •the election of Mr. Lamaro, a firm friend and loyal follower of Mr. Lang, and former Attorney-General in the Lang Cabinet. The election did not cause rtmch excitement outside Langite circles, but the party represented by the, "Labour Daily" eeized upon this little eide issue as an opportunity for making eome display of Langite strength and organising ability. As a matter of fact, they had not much to fear in the way of opposition. Leichhardt Langite stronghold, and Mr. Olde at the 1930 election had an absolute majority of 7687. The U.A.P. party decided not to run a candidate, and the only serious opposition to Mr.. Lamaro came from the Federal Labour candidate, MfE. Storey, who two years ago polled 1188 votes against Mr. Olde. The reeult of the election showed that the confidence of the Langitee wae not wholly misplaced, for Mr. Lamaro headed the poll with a majority of 3646 votes—a very substantial "plurality." But an analysis of the figures shows that the victory was by no means so sweeping and conclusive as the Langites would liave ue Ufclieve. For Mr. Lamaro'e majority ie less than half the absolute majority secured by Mr. Olde in 1930, and Mr. Storey increased his votes from 1188 in 1930 to 5164. Mr. Lamaro polled only about 900 votes more than Mr. Olde had secured two years ago, but Mr. Storey, who had little organisation to help him, and no assistance from Mr. Scullin or the other leaders of the Federal Labour party, has increased the A.L.P. vote in thie electorate by about 4000. Ono might have imagined that the Langites would be disappointed. On the contrary, they have not only trumpeted it abroad as a glorious victory, but they have claimed that the return of Mr. Lamaro for Lciclihardt means a defeat for the Stevens Government and a public repudiation of its policy. The absurdity of,,this claim is sufficiently proved by the fact that the Stevens party (the Nationalists) did not even run a candidate. Trades Hall Losing Grip. What makes this abeurd claim even more preposterous is the dangerous position in w,liieh Mr. Lang himself now stands. He is assailed by the echism and disloyalty in his own party, and his personal ascendancy ie gravely imperilled. The Garden-Graves faction, which has eo long controlled the Langite party and directed Langite policy from the Trades Hall, has. definitely lost control of the situation; for the new executive has been elected by a Socialisation majority which is hostile to both Garden .and Lang. This victory was gained by "an amalgamation of the Socialisation units and the Communist bodice, particularly the United Front of Employed and Unemployed, who had been declared 'black' by the GravesGarden executive." Thi« does not mean that the Communists are appreciably stronger than before, for at the Leichhardt election the Communist candidate could muster only 300 votes. But it docs mean that the Socialisation units are prepared to use any weapon at their disposal to destroy Lang and his authority.