A Lesson for Labour.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20181, 9 March 1931, Page 10

A Lesson for Labour.

Though the Labour. Party held the Easjt Sydney seat at the by-election on Saturday, the success has the strong, sharp, flavour of defeat. The seat has been held by Labour for twenty years; but in winning it. again, through Alderman Ward of the Sydney City Council, the Party's previous majoritics'were heavily reduced. At the General Election in 1929 Labour's majority was nearly 13,000; on Saturday it fell . away by nearly 9000. The difference in the polling shows how heavily the Scullin Ministry has declined in public confidence, not only throughout the Commonwealth, but even in one of the j Labour Party's firmest metropolitan strongholds. Such success in retaining, a long secure seat will not gratify in-, telligent men in the Labour Party/but > 011 them with anxiety; and their thanks to the Premier of New South Wales, who probably won the seat, may not be wholehearted. The tactics by l which he persuaded enough voters to carry Alderman Ward in - are the tactics which are farming and alienating thousands of voters throughout tho Horn.' monwealth, and' preparing a Labour disaster in all but the reddest coum,. latencies. Making the most of the fact ' that two out of every nine wen in New South Wales are unemployed, Mr Lang assured the electors of East Sydney that unemployment is due entirely to Australia's indebtedness, incurred to i help Great Britain in the Great War. He asserted that depression would be clearec} away as by magic if only the ; interest in the waif, debtri of the Com- i monwealth were scaled down to 3 per i cent., and the saving spent on the immediate relief of unemployment. He . said a great ideal more on the same i high level of nonsense, but never said that the bulk of '■the Commonwealth's war indebtedness was raised in Australia—£l9o,ooo,ooo out of £282,000,000, in round figures. No doubt because Mr Seutyin would have, been a flustered hindrance in # campaign conducted Vritfc 80/ little scruple and so much audacity, the Prime Minister and his 'moderate colleagues were debarred by the Labour Party from taking any part in the contest. Only Ministerial ropudiationiats were permitted to appear on the platform; but in spite of this resourcefulness in the choice and exclusion of helpers/ thousands of former supporters of Labour refused to bo ; fooled any longer. ■