NATIONAL MAJORITY

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 256, 28 October 1931, Page 1

NATIONAL MAJORITY

Government Victory Predicted. MINISTERS’ SEATS IN DOUBT. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received October 28, 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, October 27. Exceptional interest is being taken in the election. About 30,000,000 electors are on the rolls and they are called upon to elect 548 members to the new House of Commons, as 67 have already been returned unopposed. For these 548 seats these are 1219 candidates, and of these the National Government supporters include 517 Conservatives, 121 Liberals, 39 Liberal Nationalists, and 21 National Labour. The Opposition include 513 Labour, 23 New Party, 25 Communists and 27 others. The polling booths will remain open tant.il 9 o’clock to-night and in the majority of the divisions the votes will be counted to-morrow morning and the results declared during the day. In the cities and large towns where the constituencies are more compact, the counting of the votes will begin immediately after the polling booths close and the results of 215 of these seats will be made known late to-night, or in the early hours to-morrow. Expectation of a large National Government majority continues, and on the Stock Exchange this morning their majority was quoted at 197 to 201. In some northern constituencies, however ; the results are in considerable doubt, including those in which several Ministers and ex-Ministers are the candidates. Reports from all parts indicate considerably heavier polling than has been recorded in the general elections in recent years.