LABOUR'S DEFEAT "SIGN OF TIMES," SAYS TORY LEADER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23116, 1 December 1949, Page 7

LABOUR'S DEFEAT "SIGN OF TIMES," SAYS TORY LEADER

(N.Z.P. A.--Reuter—Copyright.) (11 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 30. “The defeat of Labour in New Zealand is a sign of the times,” said Lord Woolton, chairman of the Conservative Party, today. “The political issues in New Zealand are basically the same as those here.

“When the time comes the people of Britain will not lag behind their kinsmen in showing the world the right road to follow.” No Effect on Exchange The result of the elections was sent into a private meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Labour’s defeat had no immediate effect on the prices of New Zealand stocks quoted on the London Stock Exchange. The British Government Securities at today’s opening added further to the advances made in the past two days but did not advance again when the Slock Exchange heard the result of the New Zealand poll. The London Evening News and Evening Standard prominently announced on their front pages the defeat of the New Zealand Labour Government. The Evening Standard, in five-column banner headlines, said: "Australia Watches as Tories Sweep to Victory After 14 Years. New Zealand Leads the Way, Throw the Socialists Out.” The Evening Standard, in a leading article, said: “The result of this election delineates the shape of things to come in other parts of the Empire. It seems that the peoples of the Empire, having sampled the rigours and failures of Socialist rule, are now turning back to the parties of freedom. “What New Zealand has voted out today, Australia and Great Britain should defeat tomorrow.”

The Evening News gave the result of the election under the following double-column headings: “New Zealand Labour Beaten After i 4 Years. Tories Sweep The Polls.” It said in a leading article: “The best birthday present possible to Churchill comes today from New Zealand with news of a solid turnover in the general election there. To those who believe that there are constitutional democratic methods of ending the dreariness and muddle of Socialist rule and that there is a proper alternative to socialism the victory of the New Zealand Nationalists will come as an encouragement. Britain may show that what New Zealand can do is zestfully worthy of repetition in the Old Country.”