FEDERAL POLL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23770, 25 September 1940, Page 11

FEDERAL POLL

GOVERNMENT'S LEAD I LATEST indications SOME DOUBTFUL SEATS f .. JIR. MENZIES' . COMMENT jjy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received September 24. 10.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 24 , The latest figures in' the Federal general election indicate the state 0 f parties as follows : Government 32 Labour • . . 27 Doubtful 14 » The counting of the Senate votes has •"-improved the Government's position in all States, and a win for the Ministerial parties in . every State except yew South Wales is still expected. The percentage of informal votes is rer v high. There were nearly 2-50,000 informal papers in tho Senate returns for all states, excluding West Australia. Labour's Representation The only certainty is that' Labour will jjave the biggest single party in the new Parliament. Labour must win six seats 'jn order to be able to govern. The • r tv already seems to have won four jjj Xew So,nth Wales, and possibly one j D Victoria, but against this it appears to have lost one in South Australia, one in Australia and two in Tasmania. The Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzi'es, is of the opinion that a setback to the Government ifi New South Wales alone could be attributed to sections of the Sydney press which, while not actually advocating a Labour Government, had constantly decried his Government's war effort, alul attacked individual Ministers. - Up to the present stage of the counting, Mr. Menzies has gained the largest individual vote in the whole of Australia. . The Doubtful Seats The main interest in tho election for the House of .Representatives now centres on the 14 seats in which the distribution of preferences and absentee votes may alter the existing position. Seven are in New South Wales, two in Victoria,"three in Queensland and one each, in Western Australia and Tasmania.

To-day's checking of primary votes indicates that the Government parties can be sure of 32 seats and the Labour parties 27. The decision in a few of the 14 doubtful seats is not likely to be known.for some.days, and probably for weeks. _

It is anticipated that the majority of the postal and absentee Votes will favour Government candidates, as in former years, but calculations can be completely upset by the preference of the Independent candidates, which may favour either party. Labour Leader's Tight Keen interest is still focussed on Mr. J. Curtin's seat in Western Australia, where he is making little headway against what seem to be unbeatable odds. The latest development is an oSer by a Labour member, Mr. It. 3araes, who represents the Hunter constituency, near Newcastle, to resign in favour of Mr. Curtin in the event of /the latter being defeated. There is no confirmation of the report cabled yesterday that Mr. A. E. Green will resign the Kalgoorlie seat in favour of Mr. Curtin. Mr. Gurtin's Adversary

Mr. F. R. Lee, who is Mr. Curtin's opponent in Freemantle, is a former journalist of "West Australia. He is a fluent speaker and has unusual organising ability. At present he represents London mining interests in Australia. The Fremantle seat has occasionally teen held by a non-Labour representative.

The official Labour candidate, Mr. S. M. Falsten, who appears -to have won the Watson seat from the Government party candidate, Mr. Jennings, is a practising barrister. He visited New Zealand some years ago and took part in election campaigns there on behalf of Labour. He was on relief work and obtained employment on the Auckland jrham-s.