ELECTION IN TASMANIA

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25581, 24 August 1948, Page 5

ELECTION IN TASMANIA

TWO SEATS STILL IN DOUBT LABOUR EXPECTS TO FORM GOVERNMENT (N.Z.P.A.—Reuter—Copyright) HOBART, August 23. With most of the votes counted in the election for the Tasmanian House, two seats are still in doubt. The Liberals are likely to win a seat from Labour in Bass, but they may lose one to an Independent in Denison. It appears certain that Labour will come out of the election with 15 or 16 seats, the Liberals with 12 or 13, and the Independents with 2 or 3. As the total membership of the House is 30, the result will not be much different from that prevailing before the poll was taken, when the state of the parties was: Labour 16, Liberals 12, Independent 2. If the numbers are equal another election may be held, but this could be avoided if a Liberal or Independent member were to accept the Speakership. The Labour Party in Tasmania is confident that it can form a Government. The Premier (Mr R. Cosgrove) regards the election result as a clearcut vindication of the actions of him-

self and his Government during the last 18 months. He said that it clearly indicated that the people desired adult franchise for the Legislative Council and that the Government must carry out fully the policy submitted to the people. The latest figures in the election compar.e as follows with the voting in 1946, the earlier figure being mentioned first: Labour, 65,843, 66,021; Liberal. 44,243, 50,610; Independent, 19,104, 17,058. ’ The Liberals, who had hoped to break decisively Labour’s 14-year-old rule in Tasmania, are bitterly disappointed. The reasons for the failure of the Liberal campaign are said to be the personal prestige of Mr Cosgrove and the Labour allegations that a Liberal Government would introduce anti-strike measures. Widespread Floods in Sind.—Two hundred thousand acres of Sind are now flooded. Rice crops are damaged and 200,000 people are homeless. Mr Ghulamalai Taipur. the Revenue Minister of Sind Province, who has just returned to Karachi from the flooded areas, said that the situation had become worse with the breach in the banks of the Indus widening.— Karachi. August 22.