THE ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2332, 14 December 1914, Page 6

THE ELECTIONS

DR. NEWMAN WINS CITY EAST POSITION IN DUNEDIN OTHER SEATS IN DOUBT SOME PRESS COMMENTS It is'now almost a certainty that Mr. Massey and 'his Government will be able to command a majority in the new House of Representatives. They have won 41 seats in the elections, and unless some serious mistake is discovered by the official counts in one or two of. the seats in which majorities were small they should hold all of the 41 seats. In addition, there, are seats still in doubt, which may go in their favour. i Dr. Newman's win. i On Saturday morning the Returning Officer for Wellington East "had so far advanced with his official count as to bo able to announce that Dr. Newman had a lead of 59 votes from • Mr. M'Laren,, and that there was a probability of the sitting member being returned. _ Later in tho day, having completed his count, Mr. Cording announced that Dr. Newman's majority was 87, and that there were only 22 absent votes to come. This means, of course that-Dr. Newman is elected. The official count discovered a mistake in the preliminary count by which 22 votes which should liave been credited to Dr. Newman were given to Mr. M'Laren. This made a difference between the candidates of 44 votes, so that if no such mistake had occurred Dr. Newman would Jiave been announced the winner by 10 vetes ,on Thursday night. News from Dunedin. In Dunedin Central .•m.uiinrecedcnted position has arisen. The official count, completed on Saturday night,- leaves Mr. Statham. the Reform candidate, in a minority of 'nine, and there are nine votes—seven absentees' and two seamen's votes—in transit. It'would bo a _ piece of miraculous good fortune for him if he wore to get all the nine extra votes, 'because in.that event tho casting vote of the , returning officer would jzo to him, as the sitting member; That is too remote a possibility to be considered, however, and it is safer to. assume now that the seat is lost, to the Government. Following are the earlier figures and those disclosed by the official count:— First. Latest _ _ T ■ '. '.' return, return. J W. Munro (Lab.) ... 3653 3797 C. E., Sta-tham (R.) 3652 3788 Majority for Munro... -, ■.-> 9 The latest return shows that of the 289 absentee and Expeditionary Force votes Labour's': representative received 144 and the sitting member 136. The, Taumarunui Seat. The figures.' for Taumarunui have also to be amended, not by the' official count, but probably on account of errors discovered in the preliminary count. The scrutiny of the rolls in that electorate has not begun yet,' and it will probably he Wednesday or Thursday before the returning officer will be able to make his declaration. Following are the amended figures:— W. T. Jennings (0.) :...-..... 3,827 C. K. Wilson (R.) '. 3,676 F. Shortland (1.R.) 32 Majority for Jennings 151 _ There are 280 absent vrtes. including those of the' Expeditionary Force still to-be counted. About Wairarapa. On Saturday there were rumours in circulation that Sir Walter Buchanan was in for Wairarapa. No such information has reached the Chief Electoral Officer. He is advised on '. the contrary that nothing will be known from Wairarapa, until late to-night. The basis of the rumour is probably this: That those interested in the 1 contest have procured a list of members of the Expeditionary Force froni Wairarapa, and ticked off the names of those likely to vote for Sir Walter Buchanan. Their judgment of the; probabilities may or may not be right. In the absence of some more reliable information the seat must still be regarded as doubtful. THE HUTT SEAT. The Expeditionary Force and absent votes for the Hutt 'electorate were counted on Saturday morning. Of the votes recorded Mr. Wilford secured 80, and Mr. Samuel 42. The total figures now stand:— Wilford (0.) 3,974 Samuel (R.) ...........*,„....... 3,025 Opposition majority ........... 949 \ THE MOTUEKA SEAT , AIR. HUDSON'S MAJORITY 622. The voting for the two candidates for the Motueka seat, which had been held by Mr. R. M'Kenzie, who was Minister of Public Works in the Ward Government, was: R. Hudson (Reform) 2719, R. M'Kenzie (Opposition) 2097, giving Mr. Hudson a majority of 622 votes. -,-_'■ THE MAORI SEATS LATER RETURNS. ... There is no doubt now that l&e Reform Party have captured the Northern Maori seat. This means that two of the Maori seats, Northern and Western, are held by the Reform Party, and Eastern and Southern by the Opposition. Following are the latest returns to hand: — NORTHERN DISTRICT. Tan Heiiare (R.) 902 Hemi te Paa (O.) 668 Riapo Timoti Fuhipo (R.) . 662 Nau Paraone Kawiti (I.) 658 Neho Heni Papakakura (I.) 353 Heromia te Waka (0.) 218 Onaru Ngawaka (0.) 179 Paraone Hore (R.) 172 Reform majority 234 There are three returns to come, as well as the votes for members of the Maori Contingent, but these cannot affect tho result. WESTERN DISTRICT. Maui Pomare (R.) 2991 T-loma Ror>ata te Ao (O.) 1264 Pepene Eketone (0.) .., 1066 Rangi Mawhete .' 651 Horf Tiro Paora 169 Tuwhakarikiha Patena 100 Reform majority 1727 There are four returns and' the con■tingenters' votes to come, but the return of Dr. Pomare by a handsome majority is certain. EASTERN DISTRICT. Apirana Turepu Ngata (0.) 4445 Hekotua te Kana Pere (R.) 2053 Opposition majority ■; 2392 There uro ton returns to'conio, but [JUjj, N«a,ta's latum is certain.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT. Toare Parata (O.) 392 Teono Matapuri Erihana (R.) ... 177 Hapareta Rore (I.) 151 Opposition majority 215 There are two returns to come, but Mr. Parata is sure to be elected. THE PRIME MINISTER . NOTHING TO SAY YET. The Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey (Prime Minister). stated yesterday that he did not care to discuss the elections until a little more definite information as to the final result was available.

PRESS COMMENTS

ON THE FIRST POLLING FIGURES. The following are a few extracts from the leading articles of the metropolitan Press on the recent General Elections, all having been written prior to Saturday's count of the absentee and Expeditionary Force votes in the case of Wellington East and Dunedin Central :— "The election results give no assistance to the Oppositionists, who claim that they went to the polls at a'disadvantage owing to no provision having been made for arriving at the absolute majority in all electorates. During tho campaign it was widely proclaimed that the Government party stood to win by splitting: their opponents' votes, and efforts are still being made to show that the abolition of tho Second Ballot was an assistance to the Government. An analysis of tho results shows that there is no fragment, of ground for this assumption. Only in six cases did the returned member fail to poll an absolute, majority of the votes cast. Three of .them—Grey Lynn, Wanganui, and Avon—were won by Opposition .candidates. The remaining three—Bay of Islands, Palmerston, and Chalmersfell to the Government. In Bay of Islands and Palmerston it was not the Opposition but the Government vote that- was split, for Mr. Reed and Mr. Buick both won in .spite of the fact that they had each to fight another candidate supporting the Government. Im the case of Chalmers, Mr. J. M. Dickson, the Government candidate, •■ won easily with a total which was only ; twenty votes short of tho. absolute maJQrity. In the circumstances wo ought to have' heard the last of the imaginary grievance of minority representation."—Auokland "Herald." ' "As regards the 'personnel of the new House of Representatives, we regret that the people of New Zealand have not seen fit to secure for themselves the services of the Hon.' R. M'Nab and the Hon.', G., Fowlds, two Liberals who in charaoter, ability, and political experience are 60* admirably qualified for Parliamentary Ministerial duties. Oh the Opposition side of the House tin loss of Mr. Atmore and Mr. Robertson is much to'be regretted, though against these defeats may.be set the disaster that has overtaken the Hon. Fisher, and the probable loss of * Sir W. Buchanan and Dr. Newman. We may draw attention to the fact that one of the lessons to be learned from this election, as from so many others, is -the need of improving the present system of representation."—Auckland "Star." Sir Joseph Ward, just prior. to tho election, declared that in 1911 the Reform Party secured onlv three-eighths of the votes cast. The Year Book states that m the European electorates 486,100 votes were recorded, so that, according to Sir Joseph Ward, the Reform voters numbered 182,287. Accordingly wo have this result:— > I" In Gain or 1911. . 1914. loss. For Reform... 182,237 236,121 53,83-igain For all other, parties ..,„.. 303,813 258,653 45,160 loss bince the Opposition and Red Fed. parties in 66 seats pooled their votes, a large proportion or the 211,860 votes credited to the "Liberals" in.our first table are obviously Labour votes. The voting in those constituencies in which the Opposition and.; Red Fed. parties had separate candidates almost makes it possible that the Labour voters account for nearly half tho "Liberal" total. In all probability the real "Liberal" voters did not exceed 125,000 at the very outside. This is very much what one would expect from tho general course of politics m recent years. The Radical and Socialist section of the "Liberal" Party : have, joined; the ranks of the labour vpters, and the more moderate of the fpllowers of Sir J. G. Ward, awakened by the drift of Wardism <:nd by tho plain evidence of the disinterested and democratic character of tho Reform Party, have joined the army of Reform. Tho result' is that the Reformers are now a strong and compact body, vastly increased in strength, and unshaken in the respects which render father growth inevitable.—Christchurch I •'Press."

It would not be frank of us to deny that we aro disappointed to see so many of the Reformers re-elected, and we are bound to say that the calibre of many of Mr. Massey's rank and file hardlp justifies their successes at the polls. Parliament will, on the other hand, miss the familiar figure or Sir Walter Buchanan, who enjoyed a personal popularity and respect that largely compensated for the rather antiquated nature of his politics. Dr. Newman's defeat occasions us no special regrets, and wo are certainly not going to weep because Mr. Bradney has ceased to be a member of Parliament. .On the Liberal side, Mr. R. M'Kenzie is the most conspicuous victim of changing circumstances. He has served the democracy well for a long time. But whilo we confess to some disappointment at the meagre majority that may result for the Opposition, it is likely that if the good Reformers—and many of them are good, although their politics may be bad—were to speak candidly they would admit to a similar feeling in an'aggravated form. The North Island has again provided Mr. Massey with the bulk of his supporters-, and it is reasonable, to supposo that many voters were attracted by tho huge bribes- held out in the shape of promised .expenditure'of several millions oftoaji money.—"Lyttelton Times." "As the Government possessed a majority of eight at the close of the last Parliament, and as the majority has now been reduced, the inference would seem to be that the most serious blows which have been dealt during the election have fallen upon the Government. The inference is hardly, however, justified. Four of the members who assisted to put the Mackenzie Government out of office did not seek re-election, and some of the defeats that were sustained by opponents of the Reform Party were hardly less striking than the most significant of the reverses suffered by the Government, this being the defeat of the Minister of Marine in Wellington Central. More surprising than the defeat _ itself was the decisiveness of it. Mr., Fisher was not merely beaten, but ho was absolutely crushed. His political career, we may be sure, however, has merely been interrupted. He is yet a young man, and- he has distinct ability and great platform skill. He will return to Parliament again, possibly before the vendetta that was sworn against him by the "Red Feds" has entirely been abaudoned. —"Otago Daily Times." "

"Tho only consoling feature of the contest to the Reform Party is their miembarrassing unity. They still remain as" a complete, if slightly diminished, force without any troublesome allies in their ranks. The consolation is a 'poor pleasure at its best, and need not bo begrudged. It is a notable fact that two of their number who 'ratted' against the Liberal Party (Messrs. Reed and T. W. Rhodes) have had their action endorsed by the majority of their constituents. .... Neither Mr- G. M. Thomson nor Mr.

Statham need feel downcast by tho decision of the electors, if that decision bo against both; their work in Parliament has been creditable; their principles remain untarnished; they have gone down (to use Mr. Statlmm's happy phrase after the results were announced) with their colours flying. And each is capable of floating again. Mr. Statham has had to-fight unscrupulous opponents outside of Labour, but he is not the sort of man to bear ill-will even against' unprincipled opponents. Hi 6 principles stand, and are respected most genuinely by Labour, whose tactics have boon honourable. Their attitude was sample; Mr. Statham stood for what they accept as 'a reactionary' Government, and Labour had to'prevail, if possible. ,Should the final tally of votes go in favour of Mr. Munro, Mr. Statham will retire from politics as he served in Parliament—with unswerving allegiance to principle, and with personal honour."—Dunedin "Star."

_ "One part of the verdict is very plain indeed. The so-called Liberals do not represent Labour, and Sir Joseph Ward no longer represents' a ruling section of the community. The Opposition Party has apparently won about thirty seats. This is a striking decline when wo consider that Mr. Seddon's death ; left the party fifty-seven strong, and this year's verdlot shows the Liberal Party represented by about thirty followers. . . . Until the final figures are available, however, elaborate comment is superfluous. In the cities the labouring classes have voted against-the Government, and this can be a,revenge for the attitude of tho Government toward the big strike. The Reform Government took up a strong attitude towards the strikers, and the splendid way in which the country stood to_ Mr. Massey indicates that the farming community at least realises the danger of the Red wave that is gathering Btrength each election.—"North Otago Times." "The electors of Otaki have written 'finis' to Mr. Robertson's political career,' and there need be no regrets on that score. Mr. Robertson won his seat by the aid of tho Reform Party's votes last election; but when it came to the test he gave an ingenious, if not a convincing, dissertation on the art of keeping the spirit of a: pledge while breaking the letter of it. . . ."—"Southland Times." .