AFRICAN ELECTION.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1735, 10 February 1921, Page 5

AFRICAN ELECTION.

A VICTORY FOR SMUTS. [By Electric CaMei—Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received February 9, 2.50 p.m.) CAPETOWN, February 9. Last night’s election returns indi--1 Bated that the South African Party had secured 39 seats, the Labour Party 8, the Nationalists G, with 1 Independent. The South African Party’s gains were 14 Labour and 2 Nationalist seats. The three seats gained by the Na-. tionalists include the defeat of Minister Debit and Colonel Reitz by narrow majorities. The Labour losses include two leaders, Cresswell and Kentridge, the lattdr’s seat going to a Nationalist. Cresswell’s (the Labour leader) defeat came as a great surprise. Returns so far from the urban districts as indications of how the country voting will go are not very reliable, but it is anticipated that General Smuts will secure a good working majority. General Smuts was elected for Pretoria West by a large majority. LABOUR AGAINST REPUBLICANS. (Received Thursday, 1.45 a.m.) CAPETOWN, February 9. De Wet, Minister of Justice, was defeated for Potchefshoom by a Nationalist. Smuts’s gains over Labour are attributed to the working men voting against Republicanism and not on the sectional matters raised by their former leaders. The newspapers pay a tribute to this spirit, and strongly deprecate anyone singing a paean over the defeat of the Labour Party. Smuts’s own majority at Pretoria West was 872.