The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1946 LABOUR RETURNED TO OFFICE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 56, 29 November 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1946 LABOUR RETURNED TO OFFICE

WITH eleven seats still in doubt (six Labour,, five National) the actual claim to full election honours still remains a dubious boast though officially the seats won on the first, count of Wednesday’s General Election place the parties Labour 43, National 37. The absentee votes may yet swing the balance. These will not be forthcoming under a week, and coupled with the obvious recounts which will be claimed in at least three instances, will probably keep the final issue in balance for a considerable time. The obvious outcome however is the broad return to office of the Labour Government for the fourth consecutive term and it is natural to assume that it will claim its rights to a mandate from the majority of 80,000 electors who turned the scales in its favour. A growing feature which has been apparent over the past three elections is the sharp line of demarcation between the town and country seats, which have been won on the main by Labour and National respectively in the Auckland Province. In 1943 Labour held nine city seats and four country seats. National held four city seats and 11 country seats. In 1946 Labour won two more city seats making 11 and retained only three Provincial electorates. The position is reversed in the National vote which has claimed only three city constituencies and no less than 11 country districts. This is a feature which must be taken full cognisance of, for it heralds the growing rift of political outlook between the town and the rural communities. It would be unfortunate to allow this feature to harden into open enmity, and. it will be ! the Government’s problefn and responsibility to maintain the balance of understanding which alone can make for harmony. The outcome of the uncertain seats now listed will possibly spell the greater part of a solution for political toleration, but it would seem a safe prophesy to say that National must become slightly stronger, and Labour slightly weakened. Absentee votes it must be remembered have a habit of being mainly in favour of Labour candidates owing to the heavy seamen percentage. The spectacle of four Maori members being returned for Labour spells yet another thought, and may yet be destined to give the balance of power to our Native race. In connection with the Maori election the most outstanding feature has

been the steady eclipse of that tried old veteran Sir Apirana Ngata who from the negligible margin of 148 by which he was defeated in 1943, had the mortification of seeing this difference enlarged to 1698 in 1946. It would be folly to suggest that Sir Apirana Ngata should allow'his remarkable talent to waste, and yet the voice of his own people is unmistakeable. In the Bay of Plenty the sitting member, Mr W. Sullivan, found a worthy opponent in Mr R. Boord the Labour candidate. The campaign will probably be remembered as the cleanest and most manly ever fought in the Bay.