BY-ELECTION IN N.S.W.

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27224, 16 December 1953, Page 9

BY-ELECTION IN N.S.W.

Significant Poll On Saturday “GENERAL ELECTION IN MINIATURE ” (Australian Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 9 p.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 15. One of the most significant by-elec-tions since the Liberal-Country Federal Government came into office in 1949 will be held on Saturday in the New South Wales electorate of Gwydir. It is regarded as virtually a general election in miniature, and the voting should show whether recent indications that the public is regaining confidence in the Menzies-Fadden Coalition can be regarded as having been confirmed. A victory at Gwydir would give the Government a good chance of re-elec-tion at the general election next year. Gwydir is a huge country electorate, covering some 50,000 square miles of north-western New South Wales, and Federal Ministers and members from all States have converged on it to do battle in the by-election campaign. One political correspondent commented: “The grasshoppers have retired in confusion and given way to swarms of itinerant politicians.” The by-election is caused by the death of the Country Party member, Mr John Treloar, who won the seat from Labour in 1949. Gwydir is regarded as a perfect sample seat for a by-election, for it is one of several country electorates now held by the Government which are in danger. If the Government can win Gwydir, it should be able to win others.

Liberal-Country Split The Gwydir by-election could be important in another direction. It could mean either a healing or a widening of the rift which has become apparent recently between the Liberal and Country Parties. The real rivalry between the. parties is in the State

executives in New South Wales and Victoria, and it came to light when the New South Wales Liberal executive decided to nominate a candidate to oppose the two Country Party and one Labour candidates at Gwydir. New South Wales Liberals pushed a proposal this year for amalgamation of the two parties throughout the State, but the Country Party rejected it. Since then it has been reported that the Liberals have asserted their right

and intention to endorse candidates for next year’s elections in geats already held by the Country Party. Gwydir has been represented by the Labour Party for a total of 34 years since the first Federal Parliament and by the Country Party for 19 years, but never by a Liberal. Early in the byelection campaign, Country Party speakers said they regarded the Liberal candidate as an intruder, but Mr Menzies hurried to heal the rift, saying that the only fight in Gwydir was between the Government and Labour, and that he would support all three Government candidates. Gwydir is a swinging seat, and if the Government candidate is to win. he will need the combined preference votes of the two other Government candidates to do so. The correspondents also say that a biz Liberal vote or Liberal victory

might mean that the, Liberals would invade all other Country Party electorates next year. The Country Party is reported to be preparing to retaliate should this happen, by contesting seats lat present held by the Liberals.