THE VICTORIAN ELECTIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21645, 16 May 1932, Page 6

THE VICTORIAN ELECTIONS.

The defeat of the Labour Party in Victoria at the general election which took place on Saturday was to be expected. Even if the party had gone to the polls as a united organisation it would almost certainly have fared indifferently. The Government that was representative of it had maintained a precarious hold on office in the past Parliament for it did not possess a majority of its own, and it was only through the support accorded to it by two or three independent members that it was able to present a semblance of power-. But in the' past few months the party fell to pieces oyer the scheme for the reconstruction of the Australian financial structure. Mr Hogan, the’ Labour Premier, had loyally supported what is known as the Premiers’ Plan for the reduction of expenditure and for the imposition of fresh _ taxation in order to check the appalling drift of public finance. Unfortunately he was compelled a few months ago to seek a rest from his duties, and no sooner was his back turned upon his departure for Great Britain than the Acting-Premier (Mr Tunnecliffe) and a section of the Government repudiated the Premiers’ Plan so far as it related to the continuance of the reduction in adjustable expenditure. Moreover, Mr Tunnecliffe was not frank with his colleagues and committed them to -a repudiation of the policy that was supported by Mr Hogan without apprising them of his intentions. The result was a spit in the Cabinet, four members! of which adhered to the Premiers’ Plan. It was not, therefore, a question only of the claims of a Labour Government to support,that was in issue at the polling on Saturday; The Premiers’ Plan was also in issue, the alternative to it being a policy with some points of similarity to that with which the Lang Government brought dishonour upon .New South Wales. The importance of the result of the election, showing that the Official Labour Party in the Legislative Assembly has dwindled from thirty to sixteen consists in the fact that the success of the United Australia Party and the United Country Party constitutes ,an endorsement by the Victorian electors of the general reconstruction policy and a condemnation by them of, a Government that does hot fulfil its pledges.