The Daily Telegraph. WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3699, 23 May 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1883.

The history of the Inangahua election, that recently resulted in the defeat of MrE. Wakeficld and the return of Mr E. Shaw, is thus given in the Tiniara Herald. We may mention that Mr WakcficM in the editor of that journal, and the following particulars of the election contest may therefore be accepted as accurate as they are instructive :—Mr "Wcston, the late member for the district, after being a somewhat lukewarm supporter of the Hall Ministry, went unmistukcably into opposition against the Whitakor Ministry. When he resigned, therefore, some three months ago, there was an opportunity for the Ministers to "•din a scat, or rather to repair the loss they had suffered by the secession of Mr Wcston from the ranks of their party. The first candidate who appeared in the field was Mr Reeves, formerly member for the Grey Valley, a pronounced opponent of the Ministry. A large body of the electors then invited Mr Wakofiold to come forward and contest the heat with Mr Reeves. As soon.™ Mr Wakeneld'snamo was mentioned, however, and before his candidature was publicly announced, Ministers took the alarm and began to concert measures for preventing him from being returned. The plan they adopted was certainly ingenious. Mr Wnkcfield had been a consistent supporter of the Hall Ministry and intimately associated in politics with all the present Ministers except Mr Conolly, who entered Parliament for the first f.jme at the general election of 1881. He was still on terms of friendship with the party. The MhjUtoivj, therefore employed the Government Whip, Mr Beethani, to communicate with Mr Wakeficld as to his intentions with regard to the Inangahuit election and as to his political platform. Mr Wakeftcld replied that lie would probably stand, and that his political platform was unchanged. The Government Whip then informed him that the assistance of the Ministry would bo necessary against Mr Reeves, and enquired whether he should communicate with them in order to secure it, Mr Wakcficld replied that he had not yet received the requisition from the electors, and could not take mjy definite step until lie had received it. At thk tjmo Mr Reeves had actually retired, and tho Ministry had already communicated with Mr Shaw. The next day that gentleman was announced as tlie Ministerial candidate in opposition to Mr Wakofield, whose replies to the Whip were taken as a refusal to be brought forward as nominee of tlje G ovemment. Mr W.-ikefiold then visited the district and announced himself as the supporter of t1,.0 Ministry on the same political basis on which he httfl P re " viously supported the Hall Ministry. Bee fore lie arrived, however, the Government had instituted a vigorous canvass on behalf of Mr Shaw, and the whole of the powerful hjfhiGjioo of the Administration was brought to botVi 1 on the electors. Thus the contest settled doy/n into a struggle between a politician vjio, though an avowed supporter of the Ministry, dwso to stand on his own merits, and a c;m- ;- didate who was not known in politics but who was backed through thick and thin by the Ministry. It was fought on the part of tho Government quite in tho oldfashioned style, the constituency being plainly given to understand that the favors they should receive from the Ministry would depend entirely on their supporting Mr Shaw, and the electors, on the other hand, making- tlfcjr terms quite unreservedly with the Ministry. Mr ,Shaw himself made no disguise of his relations J.ho Government, but frankly informed tbo.elecfyirs that if they returned'him Ho would g.ct iarge grants and subwdic-x, whilst if they re.--turned his opponent they would get nothing. With reference to one particular mining enterprise, tho promoters of which werp supposed to command fifty votes, ho telegraphed from Wellington that tho Minister of Mines had sent for him and that terms had been arraiisrcd highly satisfactory to shareholders. "This telegram was immediately published by his supportors, and no doubt had the desjred effect. On his arrival in the district the Ministerial candidate everywhere proclaimed himsulf a» the authorised dispenser of Government favors, and made (lie most lavish promises on the strength of his position. It. is ucedlcss to say that in a goldfields constituency, dependent on the Government for almost everything, ho commanded from tho out-

set a numerous and constantly increasing following. Mr Wakefield appears to hare conducted his share of the contest in precisely the same manner in which we have seen him fight his battles here. Ho niacin speeches on politics to crowded audiences,\ depending solely on the impression that he made from the platform as a public man, and it is interesting to uotico that ho gained the adherence of a very large body of the warm-hearted miners. Tho influence, of tho Government with the business people, the mining companies and the local bodies, nevertheless, wasirresistible. Tho Inangahua County Council, a very powerful organisation, .secured the vote of the Irish electors almost to a man, and the result was that though Mr Wakefield polled enough votes to have secured him almost any other seat in the country, he was nevertheless defeated by a substantial majority The Government got their candidate in triumphantly on the distinct and explicit ground of his being a hard and fast Government supporter. It was certainly a signal victory, and as a display of force it presents a striking contrast to the party tactics of the Ministry in the past. There have now been four big elections during the present Parliament, and the Government have won them all. They got Mr Pilliet member for Stanmore by a skilful change of front after his election ; Mr Larnach won the Peninsular scat for them easily by his own personal popularity ; Mr Leo was returned for Solwyn as a supporter of theirs on general principles, and now they have put Mr ShaAV in for Inangahua by a sheer effort of Government influence.