LEAVING BENCH TO RETURN TO POLITICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 206, 30 August 1940, Page 7

LEAVING BENCH TO RETURN TO POLITICS.

AUSTRALIAN ]VDGE. Contest Seat For Labour In Federal Election. United Prees Association.—Copjrfght(Reed. !UO a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. Mr. Justice Evatt, of the High Court of Australia, lias tendered his resignation from the Bench to enable him to stand for a seat at the Federal general election, supporting Mr. J. Curtin and the official Labour party. Mr. Justice Evatt will contest tlie Barton electorate at present held by the United Australia party. It is regarded as a doubtful seat". Speculation is rife concerning the outcome of the Senate elections, which are held at the same time as those for the House of Representatives. Intriguing Senate Situation. Nineteen senators are to retire, comprising 17 Government supporters and two Labour. Of the remaining 17 senators 14 are Labour and three Government supporters. This means that Labour has to win only a few seats to gain control of the Senate. With a eplit in the Labour vote there is every possibility that the present Government will be returned in the House of Representatives, and if Laboui wins the Senate the position will lie stalemate and a double dissolution is not inconceivable.

The Hon. Herbert Vere Evatt, LL.D., Justice of the Federal High Court of Australia since 1930, was born in New South Wales in 1894. He was educated at the Sydney University, where he took numerous prizes and scholarships in mathematics, philosophy, English, literature and law, and was president of the Undergraduates' Association and first undergraduate president of the reconstructed University Union. There he gained the degrees of M.A. and LL.D., and afterwards became a lecturer.

From 1925 to 1929 he was a member of the Legislative Assembly, Xew South Wales, for Balinain in the Labour interest. He was elevated to the Bench by the Laug Government. In 1926 he took part in the World's Migration Conference in London as delegate of the Australian Labour Movement. He is the author of a number of books on history, political science and law.