MR. LANG RESIGNS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 178, 18 October 1927, Page 1

MR. LANG RESIGNS

SAVIN TO FORM MINISTRY election side-issue unprecedented action ffy Cable. — Pness Association.—Copyright SYDNEY. Monday. The Lang; Cabinet held its final meeting to- day and discussed the situation arising out of Labour's defeat at the State general election. It m not (teclded when Mr. Lang should hand in the resignation of the Ministry to the Governor, Sir Dudley de Chair. Mr. Lang, however, resigned tonight, and his Excellency commissioned Mr. T. R. Bavin to form a new Ministry. A side-issue of the election which is without precedent was disclosed to-day. Mr. J. R. Nield, Nationalist candidate for Hurstville, applied to the Eaulty Court for leave to apply for an «X parte injunction to restrain the returning officer from declaring the result of the poll or forwarding to the Governor the name of the Labour candidate. Mr. W. J. Butler. The latter polled 7,039 votes against Mr. Nield’s 7,003. The grounds of the application are stated in an affidavit signed by the applicant to be that advices were received by the returning officer in question before the poll was declared that there were a number of absent votes polled in the electorate, and it is alleged that on the day before the poll the returning officer had stated that 80 absent votes were missing and that unless one candidate secured mdre than 80 absent votes there would he trouble. On Saturday morning the returning officer is alleged to have refused to announce how many absent votes had been received, and on these grounds Mr. Nield applied for the injunction. The court granted leave to serve a short notice motion upon the returning officer for an injunction. The application is to be heard to-morrow.—A and N.Z.