N.S.W. ELECTIONS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20039, 22 September 1930, Page 11

N.S.W. ELECTIONS.

WRITS TO BE ISSUED.

POLLING DAY NEXT MONTH. (UKITEB PBSSS ASSOCIATION—B7 BfcKCTBIO TELEGRAPH—COPVBIOHT.) SYDNEY, September 20. A proclamation has been issued dissolving the Legislative Assembly. Tlio writs for thf General Election will be issued on Monday. [A Sydney paper states that nomination dav will be October 2nd, arid tfie elections will be held on October 25th. The return ot the writs will fall due 60 days after their issue. Though no official statement has been made, it »s generally understood that the Government will rely on its emergency financial programme in the appeal to the public] ,

NEW FACTORS IN CAMPAIGN. NATIONALISTS FAVOURED. (rnoif och own cobrbspokdekt.) SYDNEY, September 11. ' Next week New South Wales will settle down to what promises to bo one of the most strenuous General Election campaigns in the history of the State already famous for the wrath that enters its politics. Many new factors will enter into the campaign and the result will attract wide attention as being the first General Election since the depression overtook the country. Labour, of course, will endeavour to place all the blame for the present state of affairs on the Nationalists, but if the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Lang) is going to insist that tho depression is artificial, brought about with the cole object of reducing wages, he is going to meet with nothing but ridicule, for everybody now knows that it is something very real. Already Labour has been greatly embarrassed by the action of the extremists and their talk of a general repudiation of the National debt. There are thousands who associate all Labour candidates with these extremists, and as the majority of Australians are thoroughly honourable this is going to make Labour's task all the more difficult. Mr Lang has already advised Labour candidates to keep away from financial problems when they address their electors, but how they are going to do that when the flnanceß of the country are uppermost in all minds is difficult to soe. Of course, may be he is going to give them a lead. At present he is posing as the strong silent man, and has announced that he will not make public the Labour policy until after the Premier has announced the policy of the Government. This Mr Bavin will do towards tho end of next week. Even if Mr Lang ignores the repudiation policy, he will be on difficult ground when he deals with the A.L.P. policy for a repudiation of .the policy for economy reached by the Premiers and Treasurers at Melbourne two weeks ago. Then again, Mr Lang is bound to announce that the Labour Party is against wages cuts of any description,- but he will find it hard to justify any alternative policy, It has been made quite clear to the people, and most of the people believe what they have been told, that costs generally must come down if Australia is to save anything from the moss in which it has found itself. On tho other side of the ledger it is of importance to note that for the first time for many years Labour will go to the country thoroughly united as far as its general forces are concerned. The Australian Workers' Union will be behind tho A.L.P., which was not the case at the last Election, and this has given Labour reason for added optimism. However, to the outsider there is no evidence that the A.W.U. is as enthusiastic as it might be. The old wound has not been properly healed. Tho Nationalists will fight the Election on the issue that they have done the utmost, and are still doing their utmost, to meet tho extraordinary demands of the situation which has made the problem of Government so difficult for them. It cannot be doubted that the Government has a fine record, for it was tho first of the many Governments in Australia to realise early tho trend of events. Reasonable people must give it credit for facing boldly the grave problems that presented themselves. It was the first to reintroduce the 48-hour week, the first to reduce the salaries of the civil servants, the first to reduce the salaries of the Ministers and members of Parliament, the first to effect any real economies, and the first to provide a definite scheme for the alleviation of unemployment. Even its enemies" admit that it has been unfearing in all that it has done. The most unpopular decisions have been made irrespective of the effect they wore likely to have on its masters, the electors. The Elections will be contested on new boundaries, and these should favour the Nationalists. It has been computed that there are 33 seats in which tho Nationalist Party, on the basis of the voting at the last Election, and after allowing for the alteration in boundaries, would gain a majority of more than 1000 votes. Of these five swung to Labour at the last Federal Elections. Smaller majorities are likely in other electorates, but on the basis of the last Election applied to the new boundaries the Nationalists should win 42 seats, against 35 held at present. These are exclusive of Country Party seats, of which 13 are now held. The rest of the House at present is made up of 40 Labour men and 2 Independent Labour. By-elections during the term of the present Parliament were contested by Nationalists and Labour men and produced the following Nationalist' majorities in each case: —Ashfield 248; Parramatta, 616; Lane Cove (held recently), 2170.