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Election night, 1935

Rights Information
Year
1935
Reference
31886
Media type
Audio

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Rights Information
Year
1935
Reference
31886
Media type
Audio

This content is for private viewing only. The material may not always be available for supply.
Click for more information on rights and requesting.

Series
D series, ca. 1935-1950s.
Categories
Live sound recordings
Sound recordings
Duration
00:20:39
Broadcast Date
27 Nov 1935
Credits
RNZ Collection
Savage, Michael Joseph (b.1872, d.1940), Speaker/Kaikōrero
Forbes, G. W. (George William), 1869-1947, Speaker/Kaikōrero
Coates, J. G. (Joseph Gordon), 1878-1943, Speaker/Kaikōrero
Curry, Arch, 1905-1964, Announcer
New Zealand. National Broadcasting Service (estab. 1936, closed 1946), Broadcaster

Recordings of speeches broadcast on 27 November, 1935, which saw the election of the first Labour government in New Zealand, led by Michael Joseph Savage.

Prime Minister G. W. Forbes concedes defeat, attributing the change of government to the worldwide Depression. He says his party's programme has succeeded in putting the country back on a sound economic footing at the cost of its popularity with the electorate.

J. G. Coates, Minister of Finance, also attributes the loss to the Depression, as well as to the entry of a third party and independents. He congratulates new MPs and commiserates with defeated MPs.

Broadcaster Arch Curry announces the state of the votes tally at 11.30pm, with Labour winning the election with 36 seats, National 12 and Independents 5.

This is followed by Prime Minister-elect Michael Joseph Savage's victory speech. Savage pays tribute to late Labour leader Harry Holland. He says that the current Depression is the work of man, and simply a problem of distribution.

He says that the people of New Zealand have nothing to fear from a Labour government. He adds "we want to continue where Richard John Seddon left off... at last, in New Zealand Labour has the opportunity of giving effect to principles that have been near and dear to most of us for the greater part of a lifetime.... to do the work of building a prosperous nation, a free nation or a nation of free people in these southern seas".