AFTER THE BATTLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 512, 15 November 1928, Page 10

AFTER THE BATTLE

IT was an amazing feature of the battle yesterday that Labour’s gain came over the top of the shattering losses registered in Grey Lynn and Auckland East. Labour has gained six seats, but its general position can hardly be satisfying to its leader. The party’s greatest weakness is its lack of distinguished personnel, and it comes back with that weakness more pronounced than ever. It missed a royal opportunity to ride into power on a wave of dissatisfaction with the Government, and the fact that it is now thrust back on to the cross-benches should give its members cause for earnest thought. The Auckland Province has gone United with a heartiness that reflects chiefly the magnetism of a familiar name. Of the 22 seats in the province, 15 were formerly held by Reform, and seven by Labour. Not a whitened bone of old Liberalism was in sight. To-day there are 23 seats in the province, and United predominates, with nine of them. Reform’s total has dwindled to eight,-and Labour’s to five. Labour scored no gains in what was formerly its stronghold. The stamp of good individual selection helped the United camp to triumph. In the successful city groups ar,e men of standing and independence. It is a pity the election of Sir James Gnnson could not have completed the business acumen now conspicuous in the city’s representation. The failure of the women candidates cannot pass unnoticed. They fought with ability and courage. The number of cases in which the fight resolved itself into a duel between Reform and United, with Labour in the background, was surprising. In these instances there were some perilously narrow majorities. To-day the crash of Reform pillars, from the Hon. A. D. McLeod downward, still echoes through an astonished land.