AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 2 December 1925, Page 10

AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS.

MR. BRUCE’S GREAT VICTORY. TRIUMPH OF COMMON SENSE. SYDNEY. Nov. 20. The smoke of the election battle as clearing away, and although it might not have been so sweeping a victory for the parties led by Mr Bruce an Dr Page as that of Air Coates followers' in New Zealand a .few weeks ago , it was sufficiently decisive to show that the Australian people were behind the Ministerialists in their determination that law and order should not be- sun verted to the forces of extremism. The election date, it now seems, was cleverly chosen. Not only was it fixed for a. time when Labour was heavily saddled with th e wreckage ot extremism, but it was also dated toi just three days after Armistice Day. I hat fact see ms to have escaped every cornmentor’s notice until Armistice Day arrived. But- events on that day, the 'reverence with which it was celebrated, the speeches and sermons emphasising Australia’s remernbrance of her- dead and her loyalty to the Empire, all contrived to accentuate the need for a Government that would not endanger those sacred ties. It seems that, trusted its most of the Labour candidates could be individually and personally, there was some . sinister force behind them that would endanger the prosperity and safety for which the dead died. It wa s in no uncertain voice that Australia gave a mandate to Mr Bruce and his co'leagues to maintain constitutional Government. The fact that, while the Country Party, the lesser of the allied forces, maintained its representation on the same basis, nationalism gained five, if not six, seats in the Representatives from .Labour, was a remarkable result for a party which had been free'y described at the last elections in 1922 as “upon its last legs,” decrepit, out of date, and in such-like terms.

It is true that in 1922 it did seem that Nationalism had outlived its days. To-cjay it has proved that it possesses as much vigour as ever it did. that it is still the party which the majority of Australians desire to see in power, that it is the one party that can be trusted with the reins of government. Mr Bruce has been given a mandate for the policy he outlined in his campaign speeches, and Australians generally have confidence that Mr Bruce, the rejuvenator of Nationalism, is the man to bring the policy to fruition.

A factor that pleased Nationalists almost as much as it s general victory was the manner in which its candidates in recognised Labour strongholds polled. This is .taken as proof that, thousands of workers forsook their' traditional political beliefs in this momentous election, because Labour had neglected to set. its house in order.