VERY QUIET CAMPAIGN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 10

VERY QUIET CAMPAIGN

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STATE ELECTIONS GOVERNMENT EXPECTED TO WIN ADELAIDE, March 17. The State elections to be held on Saturday promise to be the quietest on record. There have been few, if any, exciting exchanges between the different parties. This will be the first time that a State election has been held under the single electorates system. Thirtynine members are to be elected to the House of Assembly from separate electorates instead of 46 from 19 districts. The general opinion is that the Government will retain office with an absolute majority of 24 or 25, leaving Labour 10, the remainder being Independents. Betting shops and liquor permits have been the subjects most prominently discussed. Many church and social reform organisations are supporting the Independent candidates, who appeal on those measures. The Labour Party attacked the Government on the five-year-term Parliaments and the alteration of electoral boundaries, Labour alleging “gerrymandering in the interest of Government supporters.” The Premier, Mr R. L. Butler, has two opponents, Labour and Independent, but he is expected comfortably to retain the seat.