FURTHER GROUND LOST

Chronicle (Levin), 13 December 1949, Page 5

FURTHER GROUND LOST

(N.Z.P.A.-

-Reuter

Labour Hopes For Doubtful Seats Dimiflish

. Copyrigttt)

Eeceived Tuesdav, 10.55 a.m. SYDNEY, Dec. 13, The Labour Party continued to lose grbiihd during the process of the election c6ui)t yesfercfay and now seems likely to, win only three of the reiaainmg doubtful seats. The state of the Parties in the new House: of Representatives, excluding the restricted franchise seats of NOrthern Territory and Australian Capital i. Territory, now appears likely to be: — Liberal 55 Country Party .... 17 Labour 46 Doubtful 3 Overnight counting . has had little effec'fc in deciding the position of the doubtful seats beyond increasing the chances of the Liberal and Country Phrty candidates. The Sydney Herald says that the new Government has a certain majority in the House of RepresentaLives of 27 seats, while the Telegraph says that the Liberal-Country Party -combination will have 74 or 75 seats in the new House. The positions of the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. N. Lemmon, and the Vice-President of the Executive Council, Mr. W. J. -Scully, now appear hopeless. The Minister of Repatria'don, Mr. H. C. Barnard, and the Minister of Defence and Postwar Reconstruction, Mr. J. J. Dedman are in little better positions. Mr. Barnard is now 257 behind wi',h 3528 votes to be counted, and Mr. Dedman is trailing the famous cyolist, Mr. Hubert Opperman, by 127. In Hume, New South Wales, the Liberal candidate, Mr. C. G. Anderson, has increased his lead over the Labour Whip, Mr. A. N. Fuller, to 505 votes. The Labour member for Riverina, Mr. La,ngtry, is now 2513 votes behind the Country Party candidate, Mr. Roberton with 500 votes to be counted. In Wannon (Victoria) Mr. McLeod (Labour) is 1858 behind the total votes of the Opposition candidates with '3000 votes to be counted, but last election he won the seat because of a big drift in the preferences.