[Page 43]
10
pot-smokers. Their names and addresses were printed regardless of the consequences: unless, of course, they belonged to the establishment. The most lurid tales on the front page described the threat to the community from nude bathing on a local beach. Little mention was made of the flourishing brothel industry or the highly organized system of illegal gambling, spreading unchecked along the peninsular.
People knew about organized crime but they chose not to see it in their own neighbourhood. The rackets were not portrayed as a threat to the household budget: and, after all, the Askin government was in control and was to be trusted.
Although Askin used local contacts for his own political and financial gain, he gave very little in return. In eleven years as Premier, he brought no Government initiatives to Manly and very few to his own electorate. Manly-Warringah could be relied on to support a free-enterprise, conservative system without government handouts or interference.
While Askin dominated the state Liberal Party machine, he could not control an important conservative element in his home territory.
Evelyn Douglas Darby, a migrant from England, was elected as Member for Manly in 1946, and held the seat resolutely for decades. A high Tory in the English tradition, Darby drew his support from the grass roots