AUSTRALIAN ELECTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18276, 18 December 1922, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION.

MINISTERIAL REVERSES.

COUNTING NOT COMPLETED.

LABOUR GAINS FORECASTED.

COUNTRY PARTY LOSING.

MR. HUGHES' SEAT SAFE.

DEFEAT OF MR. CATTS. Tolecrßj.' , h—Press Association— Copyright. (Received 5 5 p.m.) A. fr.d N.Z- SYDNEY, Dec. 17. The elections were favoured with fine weather, and polling proceeded steadily throughout the day, the electors throwing aside ihe apparent apathy which had marked the campaign.

The counting of primary votes ceased at midnight. In no case was the count complete and therefore it is impossible t<i give- a reliable estimate of the jtats of parties.

In 67 out of 7o electorates, however, counting is considered to be sufficiently advanced to forecast that the Nationalists will win 30 seats. Labour 28. and the Country Party nine, but there is still •margin enough for considerable changes in these seats.

According to these figures tho Labour Tarty is likely to gain four seats, and the Country Party to lose five.

There is intense interest in this duel between Mr. \V. M. Hughes and Mr. A. R Piddinf.ton (Independent), in North Sydney. The latter polled well, but. the Prime Minister holds an unassailable lead of 4000.

Mr. <T. H. Catts, Leader of the Majority Labour Party, has been defeated.

Mr. H. Lamond. Assistant Minister tor Repatriation, and Mr. W. H. Laird Smith, ex-Minister for the Navy, have apparently lost their seats.

GOVERNMENT'S FATE. LOSS OF MAJORITY LIKELY. MAJORITY LABOUR DEBACLE. Australian and NZ. Cab!© Association. tßecd. 12.35 a-m.) SYDNEY. Dcc. 16. It will be several days before the Senate returns are sufficiently complete to disclose the peal position. So far they are so small that they give little indication. New South Wales. Victoria, South Australia., and Tasmania are each returning three Senators and Queensland four. In New South Wales, Victoria., Tasmania, and South Australia respectively a Labour candidate leads, with two Nationalists following 1 . In Queensland two Labour candidates are followed by a Nationalist and Country Party candidate. No figures for Western Australia have been received.

There is much rejoicing in official Labour circles at the complete wipe out of the Majority Labour Party, Mr. Catts and all his five followers having been defeated. Labour also considers the -ood showing made by Mr. I'iddington against Mr. Hughes as a severe blow to the National '-earner's prestige.

Dr. Earle Page, leader of the Country Party, was elected with a good majority.

Counting was resumed to-night, and later returns point to a considerable change in the earlier figures. When finality is reached it is expected that the Labour Party will improve its position, and the Nationalists lose ground. As far as New South ales is concerned it looks as if Labour has won 14 out of 23 seats, Nationalists nine, and Country Party two. Three seats are doubtful

Figures received from the other States are less complete, but it is regarded as probable that Mr. Hughes Will fail to secure a majority, and Labour will probably be a bigger party. In addition to Mr. Lamond, it appears that Mr. Massy Greene, Minister for Defence, will lose his seat. Mr. Povnton, PostmasterGeneral, Mr. Eodgers, Minister for Customs, and Sir Elliott Johnson, Speaker, are also in doubtful positions, but later figures and second preferences, upon which a number of seats depend, may pull them through.

The state of parties in the Federal House of Representatives at the dissolution was as follows :—

Nationalists (including Speaker) 38 Labour Party . . '. . . . 24 Country Party . . .... 13

Two new parties, however, entered the election lists. Mr. W. A. Watt, a former Treasurer in Mr. Hughes' Ministry, led a Liberal attack on several Nationalist seats in Victoria and South Australia, and Mr. J. H. Catts replied to his expulsion from the official Labour Party by bringing six Majority Labour candidates into the fioid in New South Wales.

Mr. Catts, who has lost his seat, the Ccok Division of New South Wales, \vas opposed by a Nationalist'" and an official Labour candidate. Apparently it is not vet known which has been returned. Mr. W. A. Watt was returned un-

opposed. Other members who have been returned unopposed are: Mr. M. Charlton, Leader of the official Labour Party, MajorGeneral Sir Granville Ryrie, Assistant Minister for Defence, Mr. H. E. Pratten (Nationalist), and Mr. H. Gregory (Countrv Party). Mr. H. Lamond,. who is believed to have lost hi.i seat, had a straight-out contest with a Labour opponent, Mr. i. A; McDonald. Mr. W. H. Laird Smith was opposed at Dennison, Tasmania, by two Nationalist candidates, one Independent, and one Labour candidate.