Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 1934. MR. LYONS WINS

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1934, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 1934. MR. LYONS WINS

’THERE was little real doubt that Mr. Lyons’ Party would gain a majority of the scats at the Federal Elections on Saturday, the only question being the extent of his victory. That has proved to equal his-best hopes, and this supplies the only “surprise” in the contest. It Avas thought that Labour would have made a better showing, but. evidently, the electors have not forgotten what happened in N.S. Wales under Mr. Lang’s rule, and safety first was the popular aim. Circumstances helped the Government, tin 1 returning national prosperity, and the coming Royal visit influencing the important non-party section in keeping in office lhe supporters of orthodox measures, social and commercial.

Z\lr. Lang and his followers will find consolation in the fact that their group of Labourites did better than the Scullin section. “Comrades” when they fall out, display bitterness one to the other, and never more so than in Australia. The Lang advance in N.S. Wales was due to improved organisation. In most instances, Labour gains were of former strongholds lost, and such results have little bearing on the national prospects. Unless Australian Federal Labour sets its house in order by abolishing the Lang-Scullin rivalry, jts chance of gaining power is minute, unless its opponents make a similar mistake of fighting each, other, instead of the enemy. The United Australian Party (Air. Lyons as leader) and the United Country Party (Dr. Earle

I Page as leader) have much in common, and are nominally political allies, but relations are often strained. It is the familiar issue of town v. country, although both sides deny this. The A.U.P., for instance, favours continuance of the protectionist policy, whereas the C.P. urges that tariffs should be drastically reduced. Where Mr. Lyons would grant a small (comparatively) subsidy on produce, Dr. Page demands huge rural relief loans. He also insists that the countryside is the place at which employment must be fostered, whereas the Prime'Minister wishes secondary industries in the towns I to be given every aid to develop. There are differences of opinion, too, in other matters, but those specifically mentioned above cause most of the friction. For the time being, party poli-1 tics will be secondary to the Centenary Royal visit, and little of consequence is likely to happen within the next twelve months. The victory of Air. Lyons will be favourably received in England and most Overseas lands, where anxiety of what a Labour Government in the Commonwealth might do, is more or less acute. In New Zealand, the Ministerialists will hail Mr. Lyons’ win as a good omen for thera’selves when they face the electors next year. The conditions are similar in both lands, but with the important difference that New Zealand Labour is united; more so than is the present Coalition.