FEDERAL POLL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 224, 20 September 1940, Page 6

FEDERAL POLL.

SHORT CAMPAIGN. ELECTION TO-MORROW PROSPECTS OF CANDIDATES. (By Air.) SYDNEY, Sept. 18, On Saturday a record number of electors will go to the polls to select a new Federa.l Parliament from a record number of candidates. Although two days are left for campaigning, in effect the campaign has really befen over for the last few days. The candidates have ajl had their say, but the truth is people have largely neglected them because their minds are sq preoccupied with the horror which is ha'ppening in London.

At Gronulla, Sydney, an unusual meeting will be held to-night when five U.A.P. candidates for Wcrriwa will speak from the same platform. This unusual happening is the result of the adoption by the U.A.P. of multiple endorsement in all reasonably safe Beats. In many other seats there are several U.A.P. candidates, not to speak of others representing the three Labour parties in the State, and sundry Inde- . pendents. This plethora of candidates has made seasoned political campaigners hesitate in picking the." result. Probably the most likely result is the very thing which the Prime Minister, Mr. Menaiea, in recent speeches has been , begging the people not to bring about, a stalemate. For even if the elections for the House pf Representatives did not produce a stalemate, Labour is praetjeajjy eertain to win four out of the) 10 Senate seats, in which case it would be 'equal to the. Government in strength in the Senate and could bring things to a standstill. Some. Possibilities. It would not be surprising if out of al) this a National Government arose id which Dr. Evatt, K.C., would be euro to play A prominent part. Dr. Evatt resigned as a judge of the High Court tq contest the electorate of Barton, whloh he is practically certain to win, He has already shown signs of making party policy statements instead of the Federal leader, Mr. Curtin. The latest example of this was yesterday wjjen he said that a Labour Government would immediately form a National War Council, on the lines of the Council in New Zealand, and that this would be a practical (stepping stone to a National Government.

Talk in political circles has already mentioned the possibility of the State Premier, Mr. Mair, the State leader of the Country party, Mr. Bruxner, and the famous Mr. Lang, State leader of the Non-Communist Labour party, appearing in the Federal field in such' a national Government. Strange as it may seem, such ah apparently illassorted team would be quite a possi-

bility, ho flexible have personal and political affiliations become in the rush' of war.

It must not be forgotten that Mr. Menzies, who ie facing strong opposition in his Victorian electorate of Kooyong, may . even lose his seat. Two other Federal Ministers may also be considered in danger—the PostmasterGenenil, Mr. Thorby (Calare) and the Minis it of Supply, Sir Frederick Stewart (Parramatta).

Film Methods in Campaign. Sir Frederick Stewart has been bitterly aseailed for alleged bungling by hie Department, particularly regarding petrol rationing and the boots supplied to the army. Electors have witnessed the spectacle of rival U.A.P. candidates figuratively tearing him to pieces. But one of these, Mr. Norman B. Rydge, appears to have overdone his publicity campaign. Mr. Rydge among many other things is head of Greater Union Theatres and has been pushing his campaign as if he were selling "pictures. It is quite possible that he may have over-reached himsejf, for people are begjnning to say that they are tired of the sight and 'sound of his name.

On the whole the campaign has been conducted on impersonal lines, except for some bitter exchanges between Mr. Curtin and the Federal leader of the Non-Communist Labour party Mr. Beasley, when Mr. Curtin called Mr. Beasley's organisation a "scab" group, Mr. Curtin also had some caustic exchanges ' with Mr. Menzies over the appearance in U.A.P. publicity qi Mr, Menzies , phqtograph along with that of Mr. Churchill.

Mr. Curtin took the obvious line of "dragging the motherland into doniestip politics." Several U.A.P. candidates have been trying to win the election as "Churchill men. ,. Among them is a owner, U.A.P. Senate candidate, Captain of those who feted von Luokner when he visited Australia.

A fierce attack on U.A.P, election propaganda was made yesterday in Melbourne by the Federal secretary of the A.L.P., Mr, P, L. McNamara. Referring to full page advertisements headed, "Labour Fiddles While London Burns," Mr, McNamara said the U.A.P. propaganda Wfts despicable and seditious. "He added* "TJ»e sufferings of the London popple are being trailed in the gutter by electioneering Frankenstejns. This sort of stuff should make the Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, ashamed of the cQnipany with which lie is associated. The commercial radio stations which broadcast an imaginary , commentary by a navvy, in broken English, on Monday night should be prosecuted by (he, PpstmasterrQeneral, Mr. Thorby. Never in the British Empire's history was propaganda given such rein, and never did it step so far over the bounds of deceqey. If the Postmaster-General fails to take a stand, he will be adjudged as condoning some of the moat mischievous and seditious matter ever inflicted on Australia."

One of the State Labour party's city candidates, a Rhodes Scholar, Mr. W. A. Wood, has caused some interest by stnting that if any of the U.A.P. candidates in Parramatta wins he will challenge tlic result on the ground that they have all spent more than the statutory maximum of £100 on their -campaigns.