WILL BE SMALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 226, 23 September 1940, Page 8

WILL BE SMALL.

FINAL MAJORITY. Definite Prospect Of Labour Leader Losing Seat.* United Press Association. —Copyright. (Reed. 9.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, this day. When the counting ceased last night, the position of the parties in the Federal general election was not materially altered. All the primary votes have not yet been counted, but whatever party wins, its majority will be very small.

The Government has regained the Wilmot seat in Tasmania, which was lost to Labour when the former Prime Minister, Mr. J. A. Lyons, died.

There is a definite prospect that Mr. J. Curtin, Labour leader, will lose his Fremantle seat to the U.A.P. candidate, Mr. F. R. Lee. It is generally believed in the electorate that the preference of the Independent candidate will go to Mr. Lee.

While there has been a heavy swing to Labour in New South Wales, this is offset by a mild swing to the Government in other States. At the present stage, in the aggregate, official Labour has secured a majority of the votes cast. The total of informal votes will be high. The position of the Senate election is still too confused to gain any impression of how the voting will end. An outstanding feature of the polling was the reverse suffered by the "new blood" candidates who stood under the United Australia party banner. Prime Minister Seems Safe. It appears that the Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzies, will secure an absolute majority in his electorate, Kooyong, but the Postmaster-General, Mr. H. V. Thorby, will probably lose his seat at Calare. The seats of all other Ministers seem to be safe, even that of Sir Frederick Stewart, at Parramatta, who was hotly opposed because of his administration of the Ministry of Supply. He has a good majority. The former Premier of New South Wales, Mr. B. S. B. Stevens, who was hailed by the United Australia party as a coming Federal Treasurer, failed badly against the sitting Labour member for the Liang electorate. Dr. H. V. Evatt, K.C., who resigned from the High Court Beuch to enter politics, defeated the United Australia party candidate for the Barton electorate by a comfortable figure. The Government has lost the Henty seat in Victoria to an Independent, Mr. A. W. Coles, who is Lord Mayor of Melbourne, but he is expected to support the Government. The seat was previously held by Sir Henry Gullett, who was killed a few weeks ago in the Canberra air crash. Apparently Labour has retained only two of the four seats which it held in Tasmania. Darwin is likely to be retained by Colonel G. J. Bell, Speaker of the House. The leader of the Country party, Mr. A. G. Cameron, has a substantial lead over two other candidates for his electorate of Barker, in South Australia. In this State Labour has lost one seat to the Country party, but the sitting members are likely to retain the other South Australian seats. New Labour Party's Failure. The newly formed New South Wales Labour party made a poor showing. The leader, Mr. J. R. Hughes, came a bad last of three Labour candidates in the Reid electorate. The s<">t will probably be won by the sitting Non-Communist Labour member, Mr. J. H. Gander. The former Minister of Customs, Mr. J. N. Lawson, will probably be defeated in Macquarie by the official Labour candidate, Mr. J. B. Ohiffley. The Government'* desperate bid to regain Corio, which was won by Labour when Mr. R. G. Casey went to' America as Australian Minister, failed. The former Davis Cup tennis player, Mr. Gerald Patterson, carried the' Government's banner, but his polling was not heavy. Labour expects to gain considerably from the soldiers' votes. Mr. J. A. Beaslcy. leader of the NonCommunist Labour party, has Avon West Sydney. Mr. E. S. Spooner, who, like Mr. Stevens, resigned from the New South Wales Assembly to contest the Robertson electorate, has a good chance of displacing the sitting member,* Mr. S. L. Gardner. Both stood in the interests of the United Australia party.