Cairns Post in Cairns, Queensland

Metropolitan shift in Victoria electors alters rural balance

An analysis of newly released electoral rolls shows total voters in eight Victoria electorates rising from 1,162,967 to 1,380,782 since early 1940, with city districts gaining far more than country seats. Melbourne Nunawading Prahran Richmond St Kilda Williamstown all up strongly, while Benalla Gippsland and other rural seats declined or barely held. Geelong also grew, blurring traditional rural-urban lines amid wartime industrial growth. Meanwhile a Labour-administration stance on Civil Construction Corps drift prompted detention and a National Security Regulations charge against G H Frank, union demands for stoppages being condemned as derailing vital war work.