TREND OF OPINION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1942, Page 3

TREND OF OPINION

STATEMENT BY OPPOSITION LEADER. WELLINGTON, This Day. “The results of the by-elections in Temuka and Hauraki show very clearly that the swing in public opinion shown in the earlier by-elections, especially the Bay of Plenty, has been more than maintained,” said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holland, in an interview yesterday. Mr Holland said that in Temuka at the 1938 general elections the National vote was 56 per cent of the total, whereas on Saturday last it had swollen to 73 per cent. The same applied to Hauraki, where the National vote had jumped from 56 per cent to 77 per cent. As expected, the petrol restrictions resulted in a smaller poll especially in the country districts, otherwise the National vote would have been larger still.

“The results,” said Mr Holland, “can fairly be interpreted as a remarkable endorsement of the Opposition’s attitude in connection with the war effort and its advocacy of a truly non-party Government as being essential to a maximum war effort. In 120 polling booths on Saturday electors in widely separated parts gave the National Party majorities in 112 booths, or 93 per cent of the total. ‘Our two new members, Messrs J. Acland and A. S. Sutherland, will greatly strengthen our team in the House. Mr Acland is a comparatively young man who quite recently began a career of local body service. He is a son of Sir Hugh Acland, the eminent surgeon, and comes from one of Canterbury’s oldest and most respected pioneer families and should do well in Parliament. Mr Sutherland has had a wide experience of public service, having served for many years on local bodies, land boards and the Auckland Harbour Board, of which he is now deputy chairman. “With the addition of Mrs Arthur Grigg (Mid-Canterbury) and Mr W. Sullivan (Bay of Plenty), the strength of the Opposition Party is’ increased to 26 members, of whom two, Messrs J. Hargest and T. L. Macdonald, arc overseas.

“Mrs Grigg will be. sworn in on Tuesday, but Messrs Acland and Sutherland cannot be sworn in till the next meeting of the House, as the writs will not be returned before the House adjourns this week.”