VICTORIAN STATE ELECTION

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27670, 28 May 1955, Page 7

VICTORIAN STATE ELECTION

Outcome Of Labour Party Split

(Rec. 12.15 a.m.) MELBOURNE, May 27. Voters will, go to the polls in- Victoria tomorrow after one of the roughest State election campaigns Australia has seen. The election is an outcome of the split in Australia’s Labour Party. Rowdy meetings and bitter accusations have iparked the campaign, and State problems have been forgotten. Five parties or groups will contest the election. The main two. are the official Labour and Liberal-Country Parties. The others are breakaway Labour; Liberal, and Country Party groups. Political observers say it has never been so difficult to forecast a result. Australians are taking more interest than they normally would in a State election because the outcome will indicate public reaction to the Labour split.

HIROSHIMA BOMB VICTIMS

(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 26. The first of 25 Japanese girls from Hiroshima entered Mount Sinai Hospital today to undergo plastic surgery for the removal of disfigurements caused by the atomic bomb 10 years ago. Surgeons are performing the operations free of charge. As many as eight operations will be needed for some of the worst cases who are expected to be in and out of the hospital for at least a year. The girls, aged 17 to 29, arrived in New York on May 9 by- aeroplane under the auspices of the Hiroshima Peace Centre Associates. They were the sole survivors in a school for girls located a mile from ground zero of the first atomic bomb to be used in war. Many were orphaned by the blast.

The plastic surgery project was started by the Rev. Kiyushi Tanimoto. He is head of a Methodist Mission in Hiroshima.

During their stay in the United States between operations, the girls are living at the homes of volunteers.

PLANNED VOYAGE TO N.Z.

Britons Rush Chance Of Yacht Journey (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, May 27. Thirty-four bored men and women have “rushed” the chance of sailing half way around the world to New Zealand in a 20ft yacht, the “Daily Mail” said today. They have written to LieutenantCommander R. M. Bailes, R.N., in answer to his advertisement for someone to join him in his 10,000-mile voyage to New Zealand via the Panama Canal. Lieutenant-Commander Bailes, a 31-year-old expert on submarine engines, plans to sail from Plymouth on August Among the 34 who have written to Lieutenant-Commander Bailes is a nurse, aged 24, who said: “I’m tired of a humdrum life. I just want adventure, and I’m prepared to pay my way.”