RISE AND FALL OF A LABOUR PARTY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3003, 25 February 1926, Page 2

RISE AND FALL OF A LABOUR PARTY.

WHERE LOYALTY PAYS,

Mr. 11. E. Holland, M.P. has recently been talking amongst his socialist friends in Sydney. As reported lie claims that though his party lost seats at last election it gained in voting strength. He probably forgot to mention that it iiad 12 more candidates in the field as compared with the previous election. That accounts for the increase, Relative to the number of candidates the party's voting strength remained almost stationary. Most of the seats it lost were previously won by it on a split vote. It suffered one of the accidents of polities as other parties have done on occasion. When Mr. Holland indulged in prophesy about the future, Australian people would smile for they know something of the ups and downs of political fortunes in the great Commonwealth. FEDERAL LABOUR PARTY.

Here is a little table which shows how the Australian Labour Party has risen and fallen between 1901 and 1925. Taking the Senate first the figures are interesting:— Seats to be filled Won by Lab. 1901 .. 30 .. 9 1910 .. 18 .. 18 1914 .. 30 .. 31 1919 .. 19 .. 1 1922 .. 19 .. 11 1925 ..22 ... 0 For the House of Representatives with 75 seats to be filled the results were: — 1901 won 17; 1910 42; 1914 41; 1919 20; 1922 29; 1925 23. It may be noted that the years of success coincide with the period when the party’s loyalty to the Empire was most pronounced. As the party became more tainted with revolutionism its support fell away. 1910 and 1914 were the times of Andrew Fisher who declared for “giving the last man and the last shilling” to defend the Empire. The more constructive and loyal the party the better it has suceeded and vice versa. Which is a credit to the Australian people.

When Mr. Holland referred to the Waihi Strike, the great annual general strike and the attitude of disaffection during the war as if these assisted Labour politically, he was mis-reading events. The opinion is held by large numbers of workers that such disruptive events retard the Labour Party rather than benefit it. Certainly we believe that our people no more want revolutionism than do the electors of Australia.

(Contributed by the New Zealand Welfare League.)