VICTORIAN ELECTIONS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 4 March 1935, Page 5

VICTORIAN ELECTIONS

National Government Returned With Likely Loss of Two Seats ONE MINISTER DEFEATED STATE OF PARTIES 'United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright). . Received 11 a.m. to-day. MELBOURNE, To-day. Voting in the Victorian State elections resulted in the return of the National Government led by Sir Stanley Argyle and composed of United Australia Party and Country Party Ministers. Labour won back only one of the 12 seats which were lost to the United Australia Party at the last general elections. With only' absent and postal votes to he counted, in the majority of electorates it is apparent that with the exception of the Minister of Education, Mr Pennington, all members of the Cabinet will be returned.

The deputy-Premier, Mr MacFarlan, now has a lead of 436 votes from Colonel Herring, Independent U.A.P., and with only 1500 votes still to be counted it is expected that Mr (MacParlan will be unseated.

Despite the threatened opposition of public servants in Kew, the Minister of Transport, Mr Kent Hughes, had a sweeping win from a Labour opponent, Mr T. Botsman, polling nearly twice the number of votes.

The Premier, Sir Stanley' Argyle, said the result of the election was a gratifying demonstration of the people’s confidence that, after three years of stress, during which the National Ministry had performed manyunpleasant tasks and the people had had to niahe great sacrifices, there should be so few changes in the personnel of the assembly'. The results showed that the people of Victoria had, for the second time, overwhelmingly expressed their desire for sound finance.

The Labour Leader, Mr Tunnecliffe, said the figures indicated clearly that the Ministry had lost support in several constituencies. There had been a considerable increase in the Labour votes everywhere. The United Australia Party, however, appears to have lost three seats to the Country Party—Warnambool, Stawell-Ararat and Kara Kara-Bo-rung. When counting ceased at midnight, the figures indicated that probably the state of the parties in the now Parliament would be: United Australia Party 26 Country Party Labour ,

Independent , Mr. H. Hollins, the only Douglas Credit candidate, has polled _ 9595 votes against Mr. J. .Gray' (United Australia) 10,898 in Hawthorn. Fbur Communists received negligible support, and three of them seem likely to lose their deposits. Miss Mary Jones, the only woman among the 130 candidates, polled w r ell in Port Melbourne, but has no chance of v'inning. Labour’s ono gain was in Geelong, where Mr. Brownhill is leading Mr. Austin (United Australia Party) by 1-168 votes. , tt A woman rushing into the Hawthorn town hall to record her vote just before the poll closed, slipped on the polished floor and broke her leg. fehe was taken away without having coinplied with the compulsory voting provision of the poll. Staw'ell has been definitely lost by the United Australia Party to Mr. MacDonald (Country Party). The citv electorate of Caulfield was won by Colonel Cohen, who resigned from the Legislative Council to contest the Legislative Assembly seat. The public servants’ campaign against the Ministerial candidates owing to the refusal of a definite promise to restore salaries was without effect.