Allegations were made during the 1959 State election campaign in Armidale that Percy Love, the Labor candidate, was using “the worst kind of political blackmail”. Simultaneously, Love claimed he was fighting his campaign with one hand tied behind his back, because he was unable to criticise Davis Hughes (the Country Party candidate) who was seriously ill in hospital, and who became the subject of a vicious personal attack in the metropolitan newspapers. This week we’ll look at the campaign run by Percy Love and the Labor Party.
Born in Guyra on March 5, 1899, Percy Graham Love moved to Armidale in 1905, and left school when he was 14. He worked at the drapery store of W Curtis Ltd in Beardy Street for 20 years. When the firm sold out, he transferred to the furniture department of Braunds (which was opposite the Newie). Shortly before World War II he went into his own business as a real estate agent, auctioneer and second-hand dealer at his premises on the northern side of Beardy Street, between Faulkner and Marsh Streets. Elected to Armidale City Council late in 1953, he topped the poll at the Council elections in 1956 and was elected Mayor in December 1957. He was still the Mayor in 1959. He had been active in the Labor Party for many years and was the long serving President of the local branch. So he was well-placed to contest the 1959 State elections as the Labor candidate.
During the first half of the 1950s the Armidale seat changed hands at each election. Davis Hughes won it for the Country Party in 1950; Jim Cahill won it for Labor in 1953; and Hughes won it back in 1956. Labor would be disadvantaged in 1959 because of opposition from the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), which was determined to split the Labor vote. When nominations closed on February 20, 1959 the candidates were Davis Hughes (Country Party), Percy Love (Labor) and Jack Stanley (DLP). All three parties campaigned strongly in 1959.
Speaking at the Labor State Electorate Council meeting at Bundarra on Sunday, March 1, 1959, Percy Love said Hughes “has been unable to achieve even one major work in the electorate”. This was red rag to a bull. In a Letter to the Editor the following week, Don Aitkin (who was then a UNE student, but went on to write a history of the NSW Country Party), wrongly claimed “nothing at all had been done in this electorate since Labor took office 18 years ago”.
Before Love could respond, Bill Sheahan, the NSW Minister for Health, made a public attack on Hughes, that he had allowed the NSW Parliamentary Hansard to attribute a Science degree to Hughes when he did not actually have the degree – but did have “a high educational standard at university level”, as the County Party Whip replied. Metropolitan papers ran with the story, but the Armidale newspaper (which was openly anti-Labor) was very circumspect.
Jack Stanley (the DLP candidate) pulled the rug from under Love’s feet, accusing him of “the worst kind of political blackmail”. Stanley was referring to a Labor advertisement authorised by local Labor legend, Ken Long, detailing expenditure on school buildings in the Armidale electorate when Hughes held the seat: 1950-53: £67,731 and 1956-59: £190,030 compared with when Labor held the seat: 1953-56: £347,431. Stanley said: “we know that money was allocated for schools and hospitals here ”¦ we know it was diverted when Mr Hughes was elected ”¦ we know who connived with the Premier to do it, and where and when it was done”.
Details were given by Phil May (the local DLP Organiser) at the DLP rally held in the 2AD auditorium on March 18, 1959. He said he had been at a meeting in the official carriage of a train at the Armidale Railway Station on the morning of October 26, 1956. Also present were: the Premier (Joe Cahill); the Minister for Education (Bob Heffron); the President of the Armidale Branch of the Labor Party (Percy Love), and the former local Member (Jim Cahill). The Premier urged Jim Cahill to do more to publicise himself. Cahill complained that the local press and radio were strongly biased in favour of the Country Party, and Hughes was mentioned in just about every issue, and his remarks on the floor of Parliament were always featured, and there was nothing Cahill could do.
May claimed that Heffron said a large amount of money had been set aside for a new Demonstration School in Armidale and a new school in West Armidale and a hospital in Uralla, but the money would be diverted to show the Armidale electorate that they could expect nothing while Hughes was the Member. “This was agreed upon at once ”¦ No one raised any objection to the arrangement”, May said. The DLP had now let the cat out of the bag.
A Letter to the Editor from Freda Mott (Country Party Campaign Manager) nicely summed up the blackmail: Labor is saying “If you are foolish enough to re-elect Hughes, then we shall punish you by denying you the school buildings which you so urgently need, but if you elect Love we shall reward you.”
Three Cabinet Ministers visited Armidale during the 1959 campaign. The newspaper report of the public meeting at which Bob Heffron (the Minister for Education) gave a long speech is notable, because it criticises the meeting rather than merely reporting it. Love repeated his claim that “no worthwhile work had been achieved in the Armidale electorate during the past three years, just a few crumbs that went to any electorate.”
In a Letter to the Editor on the eve of the election, Love said it had been an “unusual election”. He said his campaign had been at a great disadvantage, as the time honoured code of ‘not hitting a man when he is down’ had applied because Hughes had been seriously ill, but added “the present position of having no worthwhile representation in the NSW Parliament must be altered”. Love then ridiculed Jack Stanley and his campaign organisers.
Next week we’ll look at the election results to see how the voters responded, and then explore what Hughes said to the new Parliament about the Science degree issue.
