PROSPECTS OF LABOUR

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 9

PROSPECTS OF LABOUR

Mr. P. Eraser, the victor for Wellington Central, had the of being counted out, and was unable to get any- • thing like a hearing for conic time. He! thanked the electors of Wellington Central for the splendid victory they hadi given, not himself personally but the I Labour Party. (Cheers.) The results asi far as he had been able to ascertain: from all over the country were, gener-, ally speaking, .satisfactory to the Labouri Party. (Cries of: "How about Semple?" "Where's Bob?") There was no doubt, that in some.-quarters there seemed to. have been a temporary reactionary- setback to Labour. . (Uproar.) ..Labour, had' been accustomed to that sort of thing, ■ but as; far as Mr. Holland, the chair-' man of the Parliamentary Labour Party, was concerned his election was beyond dispute.' .(Cheers.). There: .was also"a' strong possibility that '.Mr. PauL.Jhe President of the New Zealand Labour Party, would be elected' for Dunedin South. At that moment he was only ten votes behind.'' (The speaker was here' interrupted by a tremendous , buret .of cheering as the return was'posted up sheAving Sir Joseph Ward's defeat). Mr. Fraser, when the fcommotion had ceased, proceeded to review the polling of tho Labour candidates. Ho said the returns

showed that the party was going back with increased Parliamentary strength, and he ventured to say that 'Mr. Semplo •would take his defeat as ho bad taken victory, and would be once more returned when the people of Now Zealand leturhed to their sense of responsibility. (Uproar and coxmting out). Mr. Fraser said it was quite an easy thing to count a man out whether he was a Ward or a Semplo. He declared that the fight would no longer be one between'the old parties, but between the progressive, intelligent people, represented by Labour, and the reactionary, bigoted, element, represented by Reform. (Groans.) A 6 far as Wellington was concerned Labour had polled the biggest vote yet. He concluded by asking" the Labour people in the crowd to give three cheers for Labour. These -were heartily given.