LYONS GOVERNMENT VICTORY

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 301, 17 September 1934, Page 9

LYONS GOVERNMENT VICTORY

Result of Australian Federal Elections PARTY MAY LOSE FOUR SEATS AT MOST Country Party Possibly Gains Balance of Power / By Telegraph.-!—Press Assn. —Copyright. (Received September 16, 7.30 p.m.) Sydney, September 16. • With its former large majority negligibly reduced, the Lyons Government yesterday received an unequivocal mandate to carry on. At the most it may lose four seats and the Country Party also four, which will be due entirely to the fact that these seats Labour.strongholds—were won during the 1931 landslide and are now reverting to Labour as the Prime Minister anticipated. y ... When the counting ceased in the early morning the position appeared as follows, with the number of seats held by each party prior to the election given in parentheses: United Australia Party 34 (38) United Country Party 12 (161 Federal Labour Party 16 (14) State Labour : - 7 (5) The results in' five electorates are still doubtful. In the previous Parliament there -were two Independents. The Prime Minister, Mr. J. A. Lyons, having had. an easy victory in Wilmot, Tasmania, on his fifty-fifth birthday yesterday, said: I am certainly experiencing many happy returns. My party is still overwhelmingly the largest in the House of Representatives. The Government has received a magnificent expression of confidence. We shall go forward to the task of placing Australia completely on her feet. It is quite apparent,” Mr. Lyons addsd, “The people are not prepared to trust themselves to adventurers in the uncharted and tempestuous seas of financial experiment.”

INTERESTING RESULT . Developments Thought Inevitable THE BALANCE OF POWER (Received September 16, 7.30 p.m.) Sydney, September 16. The Government hitherto has had an absolute majority over all other parties, with the result that it was unnecessary officially to coalesce with’ the Country Party. Now, however, the latter party holds the balance of power, and interesting political developments are regarded as inevitable. It was unofficially stated last night that the Government could count on the support of the Country Party, which, peculiarly, is likely to lose a couple of its seats at the expense of Its rival, the United Australia Party. A feature of the polling in New South Wales, where most changes are occurring, is that State Labour, led by Sir. J, Beasley, very nearly ousted Federal Labour candidates, but the Lang-Beas-ley Influence was not noticeable in any other States. The whole of the Ministers, with the possible exception of Mr. J. A. Guy, Assistant-Minister of Customs, will be returned. Mr. Guy’s position is usually in doubt until the last minute owing to the fact that preferences invariably have to decide the Issue. So far primary votes alone have been counted in the various States, and the position of doubtful seats will not be known in some instances until the end of next week. May Lose Only One Seat. The campaign directors of the United Party go to the length of predicting that the Prime Minister will probably have a personal following of 37, losing only one seat when the Anal returns are to hand. Their analysis is as follows—The United Australia Party has already definitely lost the Lang seat in New South Wales and the Marybyrnong and Batman seats in. Victoria, but will gain the Corangamlte (Victoria) and Werriwa (New South Wales) from the Country ’Party, and thus will have 37, or half the total membership of the new House. Although in no instance did Douglas Credit candidates come within striking distance of success, they polled surprisingly well in some electorates, and their leaders, much encouraged, declare thar this will stimulate them to greater action. The distribution of their candidates’ preferences will have an important bearing In doubtful conFederal and State Labour, The extent to which the Federal Labour vote slipped In New South Wales Is best indicated by the heavy primary votes recorded for Mr. fl. S. Garden, secretary of the Sydney Trades and Labour Council, over Mr. E. C. Riley, the former at present having more than a two to one majority. Mr. Garden has made previous unsuccessful attempts to obtain a seat in Parliament. On this occasion he has vanquished a difficult opponent, as Mr. Riley’s father had hitherto held the Cook seat for many years and had a strong personal following. A notable victory for the United Australia Party in New South Wales was that of Mr. T. D. Mutch, former State Minister for Education in the Lang regime. He defeated a strong opponent. Mr. H. P. Lazzarini, who is a Lang supporter, or State Labour nominee, for werriwa, which, last election, was won by the Country Party. The position in Victoria Is not less Interesting, though there were no surprises. Mr. R. G. Menzies, who will probably succeed Mr. J. G. Latham as Federal Attorney-General, obtained a heavy majority at Kooyong, while Messrs. Maurice Blackburn-and Frank Brennan have retrieved the Bourke and Batman seats for Federal Labour. Mr. Blackburn- retired from the Speakership of the Victorian Assembly to contest the Bourke seat. Maribyrnong has rejected Mr. J. E. Fenton, veteran ex-Labour member, who, with Mr. Lyons, broke away from the Scullin Administration and led to its downfall. Mr. Fenton allied himself with the United Australia Party last election and just managed to win, but on this occasion will be narrowly beaten by Mr. A. S. Drakeford (Federal Labour). Hugo Majorities.

The Postmaster-General, Mr. A. Parkhill, has the huge majority of 18,000, the Minister of Commerce, Mr, F, M. Stewart, an absolute majority of 12,000, and Mr. W. M. Hughes an absolute majority of 4000. These figures are typical of the strength of the United . Australia Party polling In many electorates. The Country Party, however, has not done quite so well. Reports from the smallej States indicate that there will he only trifling changes in the party's representation, and these will probably apt WWS threa p©w; fecoft

New members so far include the following :— Victoria, Messrs. M. Blackburn, F. Brennan, A. Drakeford (Federal Labour), R. G. Menzies (United Australia) ; New South Wales, Messrs. T. Mutch, W. McCall (United Australia), J. Garden, D. Mulcahy (State Labour); Queensland, Mr. D. Watson (Federal Labour); West Australia, Mr. J. Curtain (Federal Labour). Doubtful seats are Calare and Darling in New South Wales, Adelaide in South 'Australia, and Franklin and Bass in Tasmania. Owing to the smallness of the returns and the large number of candidates in the field for the Senate, it will not be possible to indicate the outcome of this election for several days, although here again the Government forces are making a strong showing. (Note on Page 7.) LATEST RESULTS Lyons Majority Bigger PARTY MAY HAVE 37 SEATS (Received September 17,12.5 a.m.) Sydney, September 16. Additional results in ail States appear to strengthen the position of the United Australian Party and, when counting ceased to-night, thp approximate state of the parties was:— United Australian Party . 38 United Country Party .... 12 Federal Labour Party .... 15 State Labour Party 8 Mr. H. Horsefleld, secretary of the United Australia Party in Sydney, described the outcome as a political miracle. He would not be In the least surprised if the party won 37 seats. Whatever ground was lost in New South Wales was due solely to the .redistribution of boundaries. . The Premier of New South Wales, Mr. B. S. B. Stevens, regards the poll as the best test possible of the real political conscience of Australian electors at the present moment. The result was most gratifying. Mr, J. T. Lang, Leader of. the State Opposition, is extremely pleased that the State Labour candidates have done so well in New South Wales, • which convinces him that bls party should triumph at the forthcoming State elections. COMMENT IN ENGLAND Labour and the Banks (Received September 16, 7.30 p.m.) Jmndou, September 15. The “Observer” says: The swing of the pendulum has not gone far in the Australian polling and the reduction of Mr. Lyons’s strength Is less than it seemed natural to expect. The election’s main significance is that the Commonwealth has vetoed the ambition of both Labour factions, Federal and State, to relieve the bankers of their responsibilities. The “Sunday Times” expresses the opinion that, with the results satisfactory on the whole, a revival of interest in Australian stocks is assured. CAREER OF MR. LYONS Mr. J. A. Lyons, the leader of the United Australia Party, was born at Stanley, Tasmania, on September 15, 1875, and educated at State and convent schools, matriculating at the University of Tasmania. ■ After following school teaching for some years, he was elected to the Tasmanian Parlia-> llament for Wilmot on April 30, 1909, as a Labour member. He was a Treasurer and Minister ot Education and Railways In the Earle Ministry from 1914 to 1916, and became Leader of the Opposition In November, 1916. When Labour again assumed office in October, 1923, Mr. Lyons was'Premier, Treasurer, and Minister of Railways, holding office until March 26, 1924. Later he was Premier and Treasurer until the Labour Party was defeated by the McPhee Nationalist Ministry about three years ago, when he again became Leader of the Opposition, He Is very popular In Tasmania, and on being induced in 1929 to contest a Federal seat against a Nationalist he was successful. Joining the Scullln Ministry, he received the portfolio of Postmaster-Gen-eral, Works and Railways. Early in 1931 he resigned from the Government, having had a split with his chief on the subject of fiscal policy. His contention was that costs must be cut, and that it was useless playing with credit. He made a notable speech in the House ot Representatives!! giving hfei reawms |

for leaving the Cabinet and the Labour Party, and later referred to “Labour’s foolish despots.” In March, 1931, lie toured the Commonwealth in support of his new policy, and made a patriotic appeal to bondholders, remarking that “London will help, but the people must be honest.’’ He became leader of the United Australia Party, and led it to victory at the last election*.