EARLY ELECTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 July 1939, Page 5

EARLY ELECTION

POSSIBLE IN AUSTRALIA FEDERAL PRIME MINISTER’S HINT. PARTY & OTHER ISSUES. By Telegraph —Press Association—Copyright SYDNEY. July 11. Tilt; possiliil ily of a !*'<■<it-ra I general election before t lie end of lliis year is freely hinted ;ii in Ihe daily Press in Sydney and Alellmurne. due mainly to the had relations between Ihe < loverniiient and Ihe Count ry I’ariy, which are I daily becoming worse, and also Io the hostility of sections of the Labour Party to the Government's national register. which some of 1 lie largesl. as well as key unions, intend to boycott. Forms which every citizen must complete, thereby furnishing a ciiisus of man power and wealth, will Ln circulated on July 17. and are to be returned by the end of the month. Failure to answer fully all questions would render the offender liable to prosecution. The Prime Minister. Mr R. G. Menzies, speaking in Adelaide yesterday, hinted at the possibility ol an early election. He recently gave instructions that the electoral rolls of all States be brought up to date. In the ordinary course a general election would not be due till late next year. Although the political Labour organisations are opposed to the proposed boycott of the national register. the executive of the Australasian Council of Trades Unions today decided to re affirm its boycott decision.

The political section, although violently hostile to the national register on the ground that it will menace trades unionism, intends to oppose it by constitutional means. It is unwilling to countenance a direct boycott, fearing it would lead to a serious Labour split. The Council of Trades Unions, which is the industrial section, has the support of many Federal unions. A vital decision on the fate of the boycott proposal will be taken tomorrow, when representatives of 90 unions will meet in conference and consider the council’s -decision. The issue is whether the unions shall take industrial action to support any members who are imprisoned for failure to sign the register cards. The political section fears that if the division in the Labour ranks is too marked an early Federal election may have to be faced, with the certainty of a Labour defeat.