VICTORIAN ELECTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22850, 4 October 1937, Page 10

VICTORIAN ELECTION

The Victorian election has resulted, subject to final counts, in a victory for the United CountryLabour confedei-acy. In a House of 65 members Labour now holds 22 seats against 18 in the previous Assembly and is now the strongest party. The Country Party has been in office for the past two and a-half years, thanks to the support of Labour, which was not, however, represented in the Ministry. The question now is whether a Labour Cabinet will go into office with Country support. The election was fought on the issue of the reform of the Legislative Council, though it has been suggested that the Premier, Mr. A. A. Dunstan, used this issue as a pretext for attempting to strengthen his party at what appeared to be a favourable moment. The Legislative Council is an elective body of 34 members who hold their seats for six years, half retiring every three years. Following the refusal of the Council, as it was constituted before the election of last June, to pass several bills on which the Government was dependent for raising certain revenues, a bill for its reform was promoted, but it failed to secure the requisite majority in the Council. Its main principle was that if a bill, passed by the Assembly, was rejected by the Council, the question would Ijc finally decided by the electors through an Assembly election. The Opposition made play of the fact that Labour is committed to the abolition of the Upper House. However, a bargain was made between Country and Labour —a bargain at a "bargain price" to quote the Labour leader, Mr. T. Tunnecliffe. What that price is remains to.be revealed. A feature of the election was that 20 scats, representing between 250,000 and 300,000 electors, were not contested, a somewhat odd situation in a State where voting is compulsory. Another remarkable fact is the Country-Labour alliance in Victoria while there is a United Australia-Country Party coalition in the Federal Parliament.