Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Monday 10 May 1926, page 11


AN ANALYSIS.

REDISTRIBUTION

EFFECTS.

DOUBTFUL TEATS.

'The elections of 1923 were nota/ble for the redistributed electorates-arranged in such a way that tho Labour Part} secured unfair advantages in the metropolis and t io countiy-and the quietness which charactetised the cam paign and polling The elections of 1926 wcro a repetition of those of 1923 in regard to both tneso features, for they weie contested in tb,e same constituencies, and the campaign and polling were quieter, if anything, than in 1923 Tor tho first time for a considerable period the Opposition faced the country as a united party, but the unity had been brought about such a brief time pnoi to polling day, and had been preceded and in some cases followed, by so much bickering, intrigue, and lecumination, that the party was lnmnored by a strong undercurrent of di&sitisfiction amongst the rank and file of those oppoeed to Labour In addison the eleventh hour patching up of differences among&t the Parlnniontirv putj left very little time for organisation vvoik, which, to be effective lequues to bo constant In the metropolitan irea and m some parts of the country distitots a vigorous attempt ivis mide to ovctcome the shortcoming», in this lespect, but it was too late Ihe Labour Par tv'B organising vvoik had beeu continued munter .-uptcdlv since the elec tions of 1923, and tb s stood it in good stead Theie bid been considerible t-ilk of the supposed split in the Laboui Party's rinks buf, as is usual at elec tions, the îanks of the paity closed up ind the voting ins solid If proof oc that was needed it is to be found in the totals polled by the Independent Lihour candidates m Bulimbi, Ithaca, and Port

Curtis

So fir as the metropolis is concerned, the Laboui Paity represents a mmotity of electors, the ivailablc figures (after allowing Labom 2000 of Mi Jenkmson's votes) being, in tôund lîgnies

Against the Government 69,000 For the Government 65,000

MAREE, MERTHYR, AND SOUTH

BRISBANE.

The Countij Isationalist Partv had strong hopes of winning Maree, Merthyi, and South Brisbane, in the metiopolitan area, and the Labour Part) had openly boasted that it would wrest Logan from Mr R ii Kmg lu no case was eitliei part} s prcdicitioü vciified, although Laboui came vei> neal losing Maree, Merthji, and South Brisbane Mr G JLedman, the Country Nationalist candi date, is onlj 107 vote* behind Mi W Borham in \Iaiee and absent and postal votes aie still to be counted In Merthyi Di L W H low les (Countij Nation ahst) is in a nunoiity of 287 onlj, with absent and postal votes to come and in South Biisbane Mt A D M Gill, who cained the Countij Nationalist banner, scoied only 149 fewer than Mr M A lerncks In this case also postal and absent votes have to be counted At the 1023 election the absent and postal votes m Maree totalled 429, of w Inch the United Party candidate secured 51 more than Mr Beltram At tho present election there are 117 postal \otes, 50 section 70 votes, and an unknown number of section 09 votes SeotionB C9 and 70 relate to absent votes lho section 09 votes at the 1023 election totalled 126 for Bertram and 104 for Hotbc-ington In Merthyr in 1023 the absent and postal votes num bered 443, of winch Mr Macgregor scored 47 more than Mr M'Lachlan In South Brisbane the absent and postal votes aggregated 409, of which Mr Ferncks scored 168 Mr Kessell (United Partj) 223, and Mr Gabbert l8 Omitting Mr Gabbeit's ''S, Mr Kessell got 55 more than Mi Tcnicks At tim present clec tion it 13 estimated that thcic aro about 100 postal and 300 absent votes to come for South Brisbane

In Toombul Alderman H. M Ruttell

at present, is 202 ahead of Mr. C M. Jenkinson, The closeness ' of this con' test created general surprise on Saturday night, as it was expéoted that Alderman Russell would have an easy viotory. This expectation was based on the assumption that probably he would have the support of the big personal following of Mr. A. L. Petrie, the former member, who was i not a .candidate at this election, Thin personal following included a latgè num-ber of Labour voters, but apparently on this occasion they threw their weight be-hind Mr. Jenkinson, in the desire to de-feat the selected representative of the Country-Nationalist Polity, for at .the 1923 election the best that Mr. Jenkinson cqüld do was to poll 1036 votes against Mr. Petrio's 3091. In addition, there had been a split iii the anti-Socialists' ranks, whioh evidently had not been entirely healed. The absent and postal votes in Toombul in 1923 numbered 347, oí which Mr. Petrie secured 177 more than hie op-ponent, Mr, Jenkinson. At the present election the postal and absent votes re-ceived np to the present were counted last night with the following result«:

Russell. Jenkinson. Postal .. .. ,. ., ., »48 10 Absent. 40 13

CARNARVON AND COOK.

Although in Carnarvon the Labour nominee--Mr. A. A. S. O. Baker-lind a slight lead On the figures available on Saturday night, Mr. 13, Costello was 288 ahead last night, witlf six leturns, three groups, and absent and postal votes to corne. This compares very favourably with the Sunday night's ligures in connection with the 1923 elections, when Mr. Costello was 9 ahead with three single returns, three groups, and postal and absent votes lo come, and the final figures gave him a majority of 378.

In the Cook electorate Mr. II. J. Ryan, the sitting Labour^ member, wits 681 ahead on last night's figures. On the Sunday front of his opponent, with five single re-turns, three gtoups, and postal and ab-sent votes to come, but the finnl figures reduced his majority to 128. At present two single returns, three groups, and absent and postal votes remain to be

counted.

In Dalby it would appear that Mr. W. J. Vovvles, tho sitting Country Nationalist member, will be displaced by Mr. TV. A. Russell, who stood as a primary producers' candidate supporting Mr. Moore'6 policy. Mr. Russell is a well-known pastoralist in the Dalby dis-trict. About eight years ago he acquired land near Dalby as relief country in connection with his Western properties, which wore sulleriug from di ought. Sub-sequently bo decided to reside in the elec-torate, in which he concentrated his pas-toral interests. Ile resided at Dalmally, near Roma, for 15 ycare, and carne into prominence m regard to his valuable^ work in endeavouring to solve the pro-blem of blowfly in sheep. He carried out experiments in conjunction with the Commonwealth Department of Science and Industry and the State Department of Agriculture, and spared neither timo nor expense. Ho is a native of Rock-hampton, where he was born in 1874. His education was obtained at the Sydney Grammar School and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, wheie he won with distinction the M.H.C diploma. Subse-quently he gained station experience in the New England district, and with sav-ings totalling £45 took up a selection in the Tamwoith disttict. By pluck and pernevernncc he gamed success, and in 1909 bought an interest in Dalmally station, of which later ho became the owner, In subsequent years he became interested in pastoral piopcrties in the Cunnamulla and Dalby districts. He is president of several sporting clubs, and is a member of the Dalby Town Council.

In Eacham, on last night's figures, Mr. C. J. Ryan, the sitting Labour member, was only 80 ahead of Mr. G. A. Duffy, the Country-Nationalist candidate. At the 1023 election Mr. W. N. Gillies won by 832 votes, but at the by-election held on January 16 last Mr Ryan only secured victory by 106 4btes, and on the Sunday night figures ivas 239 ahead. The num-ber of electors on the roll on that occa-sion was GGS9, as compared with 0713 mow. There is a Bingle return, a group, and absent and postal votes to come, and if the polling has been similar to that at the by-election the Country-Nationalist candidate has a good chance of winning.

FASSIFERN AND KENNEDY.

In Fassifern the sitting member (Mr. E. T. Bell) was opposed by, Mr. T" I'. Plunkett. Both were standing in the Country-Nationalist interest, and neither had been endorsed. In the earlier stages of the counting on Saturday night it appeared as' though Mr. Plunkett would win, four of the returns reading : Bell 764, Plunkett 859; Bell 1410, Plunkett 1500 ; Bell 1561, Plunkett 1621 ; Bell 1043, Plunkett 1707. _ Thoreaftre Mr. Plunkett dropped behind, and ,it seems likely that eventually Mr. Bell will win by somewhere about the same .majority253-as he secured at the last election, when his opponent was Mr. J. Haidcastlo, who stood in the Country Party interests, Mr. Bell then being a member of the [ United Parliamcntaty Party.

The Country-Nationalists had great hopes of winning Kennedy if a liiangular conlest could be avoided, but there were th lee candidates-Messis. VV. H. Green (Country-Nationalist), J. Young (Primary Piodttceis' candidate), and II. A. Bruce, the sitting Labour member. At the 1923 election Mr. Bruce defeated Mr. J. E. Clcgg, the United Party candidate, by only 145 votes. On the Sunday night in 1923 Mr. Bruce was leading by 57, with eight single returns, one group, and ab-sent and postal votes to come. Lastnight Mr. Bruce had nu ..bsolute majority of 222, with seven leturns, a group, and postal and absent votes to come. One of the returns is n main construction camp, and Mr. Green's prospects of success are not rosy. The number on the roll in 1923 was 6423, compared with "054 on the present occasion. '

At the 1923 elections Mr. E. B. Swayno (Country-Nationalist) defeated Mr. II. E. Tnrner (Labour) by only 107 votes. On the Sunday night in 1923 he was ¡.30 ahead, with 11 single returns, two groups, and absent and postal votes to come. Last night he'was 216 ahead, with three returns and absent and postal votes to come. His return seems-ceitain.

In Mm illa Mr. Godfrey Morgan's fiiends expect bim to win. In the 1023 election he- won by 490, although on that occa-sion it was a straight-out contest. On the Sunday night in 1923 ho was 107 be-hind the Labour candidate, with one single return, two groups, and absent and postal votes to como. Last night he was 130 ahead of the Labour nominee, but there were 15 single returns, two groups, and . vstal votes to come.

PORT CURTIS AND QUEENTON.

The Port Curtis returns are attracting considerable attention, as the candidature of Mr. Ï. W. Paterson was looked upon with great appienhcnsion by the Labour Party officials, some of whom predicted that the sitting Labour member-Mr. G. Carter-would suffer defeat as the re-sult of the split vote. At present Mr. Carter has a majority ot 2U2 over Mr. W. J. Prizeman, the Countrj'-Nationallst candidate, and Mr. Paterson has scored 589 votes. About 1000 votes remain to be counted. The electors who voted for Mr. Paterson, however, have used the contingent vote very sparinglj-, our Rock-hampton correspondent advising last night that out of 115 votes polled for Mr. Pater-son at Parson's Point and 219 at Glad-stone only 23 bofe a contingent vote.. It would seem, therefore, that Mr. Prizoman

will bo defeated.

At tho last election Mr. Winstanley (the sitting Labour member) won Queenton by 229 votes. Last night he-was leading Mr. J. Jones-the same candidate who opposed bim in 1923- by 431, with eight returns, one group, and absent and postal votes to come. On the Sunday night in 1923 Mr. Winstanley was leading by 294, with 29 returns and absent and postal votes to come. Tho returns to come on the present occasion, however, if .Bimllar to those of 1023, will not give Mr. Jones a sufficient majority to win.