N.S.W. Elections.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18397, 2 June 1925, Page 8

N.S.W. Elections.

It is not yet certain which of the three principal Parties in the New South "Wales election will be returned to power. Yesterday two of the leaders were reported .to. be "sanguine," but it is clear from the results already available that neither can bo sanguine of a."working majority. It is almost equally clear that the Prohibitionists, Communists, and Independents will havo far more power wtyjn the new Government takes office than the number of their supporters warrants. Throughout tho election campaign the Nationalists made it quite definite that thoy were opposed to the Labour Party in any form, and they advised their supporters to give their second preference votes to the Progressives, pointing out that any vote, even the "last preference," given to Labour, was likely to assist materially a Party which was already assured of a "solid" vote.

Apparently the pact to combine against Labour was not so faithfully observed by the other wing of the anti-Labour forces. Tho Progressives, instead of returning the same service as they received, advised their supporters to give their second preference "on merit," and this hesitancy to recommend their Nationalist opponents as .a second choice must have had an effect on that proportion of the electors who, in an attempt to vote for "men rather than "measures,''' invariably forget the immediate consequences. There is always a proportion of any body of electors which is willing to give votes to a candidate on "personality" rather than on "principles," and it is obvious that a weak declaration on the question of the second preference by one of the Parties opposing Labour would assist in swaying the votes of some at least of that section. , Labour would thus have a double advantage —solidarity in its own ranks, and the benefit of the cleavage between the two opposing Parties. "fliough Mr Lang and Sir George Fuller professed themselves equally confident yesterday that they would be able to form a Ministry, Mr Lang will be less embarrassed than would be the Nationalist leader if placed in the position of being dependent, or nearly dependent, upon the goodwill of a few Extremists. If the latter are to call the tune for a new Labour Government to dance to, it will mean at most a difference in the brand of Socialism. To the Nationalists, on the other hand, active government without a substantial margin of support will be impossible. There is a distinct possibility that the four hundred thousand Labour voter 3in Now SCuth Wales will, find that they have placed in power a Red Government pf a deeper hue than that for which theythought they were voting.