THE. BY-ELECTION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1209, 18 August 1911, Page 8

THE. BY-ELECTION.

CHRISTCHURCH NORTH SEAT. . MR." ISITT RETURNED. ' THE SYMPATHETIC VOTE AND ■PROHIBITION. (By Telesraph— Press Association.! . i, Christchurch, August 17. Tho by-election' for Christchurch North took place to-day'in fino weather. Tho polling was fairly heavy, 6920 out of 10,000 on tho roll recording votes as compared with-743'7 at last Genoral Election. Tho results wero got in very promptly, the last coining to hand 6h'ortly after eight o'clock. the following. is tho result of tie polling ; L. M.' Isitt 381-4 " ; J. D. Hall 310G Majority for Isitt 708 ' iAt the general election of 1908 the con-, test for this seat resulted:— ' T. E. Taylor (Independent) ' 43G5 , ' C. M. Gray (Govt.) 2G67 j E. J. Eekroyd (Govt.) 405 : Majority over Gray IG9S , Majority over total Govt. voto . 1293 In 1905, the first election at wliicli tho cities were divided into separate electorates, Mr. C. 31. ■ Gray defeated tho lato \ Mr. Taylor by 1007 votes, tho figures being:—Gray, iOG6; Taylor, 2999. V AFTER.THE BATTLE, SPEECHES BY THE, CANDIDATES. ißy Telccrapli—Association.. Christchurch, August 17. • Mr.: Isitt '. sgoko -.from .thoJ "Lyttelton Time's" office, and later 'from the 'Tress" Office, where Mr. Hall also spoke. Mr., Hall was received with cheers and. continued'-applause; mixed • with' a little • "boohing.'' He said that lie -was glad ( of, the opportunity of expressing his grati- }'• tudo to those .who had- worked,so heartily and loyally for him that daj\ 'It was almost unnecessary-for him to sav that it had been a real hard, good, honest fight, and'he was prepared to. take • the beating in the best way he could, and he was prepared to say that if there was another chance of- having a fight, he-would be sure to tako part in it. (Continued • applause.) Ho could not speak too highly of the ladies and. gentlemen -who had worked so'heartily;" so' unselfishly, and so untiringly for him."'lt was 'due -'to the work done, by these, ho was of opinion, that,in two'months' time they would-be l able, to altor tho numbers. (Appluuso,- and eonsiderablo dissent, ; and ■ a-voice: ■ "You haven't a hope") That was a matter of ■opinion, and so far as lie was concerned, he would givo ' them an opportunity of deciding tho matter at the next polls. (Applause and dissent.) Ho could not'say more, except that he would have liked to havo seen Jlr. Isitt present to shake hands with, him, and tell him how.much he had enjoydd 'tho !fight. Three cheei's were'Qalleii for Mr.. Hall, and were haarlily 'giVen} iis : were tlirco cheers' for ' Mr. ! Isitt.. \ '. Jlr. Isitt was received with' ehrers,- and the waving of handkerchiefs. 'Ho said that-ho sincerely thanked"tho electors',of ■ Christchurch North for tho position--in-which they had placed him. Before he .said one word abont the issue of- thestruggle, hu desired to express his gratiMudo to his opponent, Mr.' J. D. Ball— (a voice: "Good man")—fo? the mapner. in'which he had conducted , the contest. (Ilcar, hear.) It had been his (the'speak-' er's) privilege to know his father (Sir . John Ilall), and on one or two occasions when ho (tho speaker) was lecturing in the neighbourhood, lie had been Sir John's guest at HororaticSHFfi was, a fine typo of the old English gentleman—(a voice: "So'a his son"), and when he knew that he I was to havo Sir John's son as opponent, he'felt quite, sure that he would meet with ponrM- — ■

piny—(lisar,- ]^ear)—and he had not beea. disappointed.in. tlfo expectation. ' xte one speaker) rejoiced in the victory, becauso he'regarded-it as 'a tribhte to their, dead leader—(hear, hear)—and ho took it as evidence that their sorrow for his loss and their sympathy with'his ideals and his purposes/was a..very, real • • quantity. Ho rejoiced becauso Jio could but regard tho result of the 'election as a triumph for Liberal progressive legislation. (Hear, hear).-.lt.was no secret.that the Conservative.. forces concentrated their strength npon the struggle. They took it that if they won the. election it would bo an" evidence of the turn of tho'tide in public opinion, and from ,that,standpoint'they had been quite right to do oil they possibly could, to accomplish a victory' that the Dominion would have regarded as all-significant. 'Well, they had failed—(hear, hearj—and he honestly believed that the day had passed for legislation','of the spirit and character that they (tho Consei-Vativcs) believed was for the good of the Dominion. (Hear hear.) Ho believed that, not only'.in this land, but all over the world, ilie conviction was strengthening that government by the people and for the people was tho oi>3 thing that would uplift the moral standard and advance the economic 'happiness and material good of. tho people. (Hear, hear.) Well, the struggle was over, ,and it ouly remained., for /him to thank very 'sincerely the men And women who hail worked so magnificently for him. iHe desired' to say that whilst he had never disguised the intensity, of his political convictions he.regarded himself,- whilst lie was tho representative of Christehurcli I North,- as bound to do all he conld for tho good-of every elector-in the electorate, whatever' might be tho nature of his political views. (Hear,' hear.) , 110 was not the representative', of a section, but the^ representative'of the. whole, so far as .their'.claims .upon his .services were concerned. (Applause.) . ClienrV v.'ei'o tfteii' called for Mr. Isitt, and were heartily given, ami cheers for Mr. Hall were also given heartily. Afterwards Mr.-Isitt visited tho Trades Hall, and saw some of the Labour leaders, but the reporters were informed that the proceedings were private. , '• - iTHE WINNING FACTORS. PEOHIBrtION' AND SYMPATHETIC VOTE. ißy TelccraDb.—Special Correspondent.) Christchurch, August' 17. The, result ot tho by-election was a surprise to both sides. There was a widespread belief that Mr. Isitt would' )viu by-a small majority, but . probably few even of his own supporters -thought ho would score 700 votes more than his opponent. The result must be' attributed to the, solid battalion of, the Prohibition vote; strengthened 011 this occasion, by tho sympathetic vote which was', worked for all it was worth throughout the . brief campaign. The.short interval between the issue. ,of tho writ' and. the (late of polling was also in Mr. Isitt's favour, for ho entered upon tho campaign with all the advantage of being well known, and an experienced .platform, .speaker, whereas a great many of the electors had no acquaintance with Mr. Hall, whoso opening address Was only (he second public speech ho had,, made, in.,his life... lie,. gained rapidly in favour in the latter part of tho contest, and at the end, in the sporting phrase, ho was "going faster" than his victorious opponent: A .good: many people havo failed to understand why in' view .of the fact that., the Legislature last year, extended the period in which the writ is returnable from 21' to 28 days only-a. bare fortnight should have been allowed in this instance. Another week nr ten days'would havo made'a vast difVreuce to Mr.'Hall's total.

Frequent, warnings were given in the newspapers prior to the closing of the ■oil advising electors to make certain that their names were on the roll, but It seems that no amount "of advice will ■ake some peoplo tako this simple'and ipces'sa'ry precaution. 'Electors who v. ero ' entitled to have t'heir names -hi fcho roll, and who believed ihem'to have been placed there, but who had neglected to see that they were there, turned up confidently..to'record th'rir. votes,, and their disappointment and indignation when they were informed that they could not enter the polling booths were extreme. It' was said that a mimber of peoplo thought that, they had done all tsuU was necessary when .they filled in

tho olectoral census paper. Others said that they hail ..filled in .and .sent in tho necessary application form*, arid thought that no further action on their part was necessary. Tho complaints about names being left off the roll became acuto curly in tho afternoon. One checker.said that in tho course of an hour ho had had to iufol'in nearly fifty people that their names wero not on the roll. Sonic oi, them claimed to havo voted at the previous election, and could.not account for. their names dicing taken off. There seems to bo no limit to the number and description of vehicles which Christchurch can produce at election time. Tho voter who walks to the polling l>ooth will soon bo as oxtinct. as ; the dodo. Motor-cars in infinite variety flitted about to-day carrying loads of passengers. One very noticeablo thing was tho number of ladies at tho steering wheels of tho cars. Carriages such as are usually kept in reserve for weddings or funerals performed political duties with sedate stateliness. Thero wero dog-carts, buggies, phaetons, and every dedscription of horse vehicle one could namo. Voters' arrived on motorcycles and ordinary safety bicycles, and quite a number were wheeled to the booths in invalid chairs. PRESS COMMENTS. "A TRIUMPH FOE THE PROHIBITIONISTS." , (By Telesranh.—Special CorresDonaent.l Christchurch, August 17. The 'Tress," in referring editorially tomorrow to tho by-election, will say:— .: "Wliilo we are naturally disappointed at the result of the Christchurch North election yesterday, tho contest is one of which we, in common with all of Mr. Hall's supporters, havo very great reason to feel proud. First'and foremost wo feel proud of the candidate. A cleaner, 'straighter lighter never, faced an election in New Zealand. Erom his opponents as well as from his friends he has won the heartiest respect and goodwill. It. was his first experience political warfare. lie had had no experience in public speaking, and lie was pitted against an opponent who, started, as he tells us, in debating societies when ho was 18 years of age,, and a great part of whose adult life has been spent in addressing public meetings of one kind or .another,., yet Mr. Hall. jtoix, the,sympathy of' his audiences from his first appearance by his straightforward, manly bearing, his unfailing good hpmour, his clear grip of public questions, showing that he had studied and thought seriously about, the problems which tho Dominion has to face. Above all, there was 'no beating about the bush in mat lie =aid. Every sentence he uttered had th» rino- ol sincerity, and in' answering questions he was frankness itself. There were those who took advantage of lus openness to settraps for lum, and sometimes he .fell into,thein;. but we venture to. say that the-people; as■ a whole think all the mote oi'l i9;tran3parently. sincere .file., it lies and petty cunning of ipr.ofesional politician. Certainly no candidatenn. such a short time .'has so thorough!*... gamed tho ! fore the' election,and'with the tace of "being personally'-known to very few of the electors, lie should SIOG votes, neai;lv,2oo more than Mr. la}lor polled in 1905.when ho was beaten by Mr Gray. The Government and th™ ■flatterers 'and sycophants 'wjU- no doubt claim the'result ot this election as a Ministerial victory, a proof that i,linist«is retain-the confidence of the Christchurch •North "but that is_all nonsense. *It ; is another signal proof of tho perfection of the Prohibition organisation and tho splondidzeal and loyalty with which the members of that party work together. This is shown by the fact.thfj although 'ohlV 6920 votes in all wero recorded yesterday.,.,as against 7891 at. tho last general •M&tiim}''Mr. ; -Isitt' yesterday 1 polled .within fifty, cf tlie total number of No-Licenso votes cast at the last No-Licenso . poll, and was only 52-t votes behind Mr. Taylor's total at the last general election, when-the-latter, -it-is-.-well, ino.wn,- received a fair amount of support from tho Opposition Owiiig to the muddled state* of t.he;\roll'ift\the present time, it is impossible^'to say exactly how many are qualifi6d" ; to vote at present, but the number is probably a little over 10,000, as compared witli 938G at tho last general election. The ,voto . yesterday was undoubtedly a triumph for, the Prohibitionists, who, in addition to their usual zeal for the cause, wero doubly moved to do their best by the recent death of their leader, Mr. ,T. ,E. Taylori'