ELECTORAL NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4019, 13 January 1876, Page 3

ELECTORAL NOTES.

A number of tbs residents of Invercargill, on the result of the Port Chalmers election being made known there, telegraphed to Mr Reynolds os follows :—“ We the undersigned. congratulate you and the Colony on your return for Port Chalmers, the League notwithstanding. ” In yesterday’s 'Clutha Loader’ there appears the following letter from Mr Macandrew ;—“ It appears to have been stated at the Clutha nomination yesterday, upon what authority I know not, that the Hon. Sir Julius Vogel is to join the Oppos'tion, and that in fact he and I are to form a Government. Although this is no doubt a very flattering compliment to me, it is due to the Clutha electors to say that I have no knowledge as to what the future line of action of Sir Julius may be. If lam to judge of his opinions and policy by those of his colleagues in the Government, the one contingency ia just as unlikely as the other.” In the case of the election of new men, whose political leanings are not generally known, we have given short extracts from their speeches to show their views on the leading questions of the day, and to justify us in our classification of them in the table of “ The New Parliament.” On the question of Abolition we have Mr Woolcock saying, “I heartily concur in the action taken by the present Government in the matter, and do most sincerely hope that it will be confirmed by the new Parliament, and that Provincialism will quietly go down into the grave and for ever rest in peace. I have for a long time past advocated the abolition of Provinces, and the substitution of a system of more purely local administration.” He is a supporter of the Immigration and Public Works policy; opposes the gold duty; favors a land, property, and income tax, manhood suffrage, and an elective Upper House. On the question he said “he would support only a national system of education. He thought it most undesirable that the youth of the Colony should grow up under a system which would cause any distinction between them. He should like to see the youth of the Colony taught, side by side without any distinction. He was, however, not bigoted himself, and if it was the feeling of the country that in larger centres denominational schools should be subsidised he should support it, blit not as against or in preference to a national system.” Mr Kennedy thoroughly approves of the Abolition of the Provinces, and would oppose any attempt to revive the Provincial system, or to destroy the unity of the Colony. He is in favor of Shire Councils without road boards ; he objects to the gold duty, but would not exempt mining property from its fair share of local taxation ; is in favor of an elective Upper House, and has no objection to a secular or national system of education, if all schools coming up to a proper stand of efficiency should receive equal support from State funds as the national schools.

Mr Manders,. the member for the Lakes, favors financial separation with one Government in each island to deal with its own affairs, and a Federal Government to legislate for the whole Colony. The scheme for more than one Government in each island was impracticable ; and he considered restoration of the Provinces impossible. Kairatana (Opposition) is likely to be returned for the Eastern Maori electoral districts. At a Native meeting at Napier, at which twenty-three tribes were represented, it was decided to place all Native matters under the control of Sir George Grey, whose decision will be regarded as law. It is well known that our system of voting by ballot is not that plan in its integrity. The practice is for the Returning Officer at each polling station to write his initials and a number on the voting paper before handing it to the elector. As that number is the one opposite the elector’s name on the roll it is obvious that should either party demand a scrutiny the secret is out, the figures at once identifying the voter. One “free and independent ” who presented himself at the Waihopai polling resented this interference with the “liberty of the subject” in a very practical manner. He refused to vote unless furnished with a clean paper, and as that would not be given him he left without exercising his electoral right. The farce of calling the system “ secret voting” has long been recognised, but probably (remarks the ‘ News ’) this is the first time such a practical protest has been made against it. The question raised at the Thames election is founded upon a passage in ‘ May, ’ who lays it down that “by the law of Parliament a member’ sitting for one place may not be elected for another, but must vacate hie seat by accepting the C'hiltem Hundreds, or some other office of profit under the Crown, in order to be eligible as a candidate. ” He quotes two instances in point. First, Sir Pitzroy Kelly on taking office as SolicitorGeneral, was returned as member for Harwich on the 15th April, 1872, and immediately afterwards announced himself as a candidate for East Suffolk, the election for which was fixed for the Ist May. A petition was lodged against him on the 29th April, in the hopes of preventing him from obtaining the Chiltern Hundreds; hut as no one else claimed the Harwich scat he received the required appointment, and thereupon stood and was returned for East Suffolk. The second instance is that of The O’Donoghue, who, in February, 1865, while member for Tipperary, offered himself as a candidate for Tralee. Before the day of election he qualified himself to he elected by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, and so vacating the Tipperary seat. On the other hand, there is the case of Mr Gathome Hardy, who, the day after he was elected for Leominster, was nominated for the University of Oxford in opposition to Mr Gladstone, whom he defeated, and ho still sits for the University. And in Now Zealand there is the case of Mr Moorhouse at the general election of 1866—one exactly aualofons to tiiat of Sir G. Grey at the Thames. lr Moorhouse was returned unopposed for what was then the Mount Herbert district. He afterwards went to the West Coast, and while there became a candidate for the district of Westland, for which he was returned in preference to a local candidate, Mr Shaw. This was treated as a double return. When the House met, Mr Moorhouse was called upon to say for which of the two districts he intended to serve as a member, and on his electing to sit for Westland a new writ was moved for Mount Herbert. In the face of so distinct a precedent, we (‘Press’) doubt if the objection to Sir G. Grey’s election at the Thames can be sustained. The English authorities are uncertain. What has to be determined is—can a man be disqualified if his second election occurs before there is any possibility of his taking his seat during the interval between two Parliaments, when no one can he called a “sitting member,” and when in fact the House itself is not yet in existence ? It should be noted that neither of the instances given by May occurred at a general election. We agree with the ‘ Press ’ that the election of a representative for any district should be, so far as the successful candidate is concerned, a final act. THANK? ELECTION. At the official declaration of the poll yesterday, Sir George Grey and Mr William R/nvo were declared elected. Major Keddoll, the Returning Officer, said that protests liau been lodged against bir Goo. Gie/ and Sir Julius Vogel, hufc he could not regard theqj] the proceedings must take another tom,

ASHLEY ELECTION. The polling here was—Mr J. E, Brown (old member—Abolitionist), 2G6 ; Mr W. M. Maskell, Provincial Secretary, 197. OREY VALLEY ELECTION. The election of two members to represent the Grey Valley, which took place yesterday, was hotly contested, and caused intense excitement throughout the district. The result is the return of two Abolitionists— Messrs Woolcock and Kennedy. The votes polled were ; Woolcock ... 773 Kennedy ... 725 Newton ... ... ... 691 Guinness 60-1 jWAIKATO ELECTION. The following is the final result of the poll Cox 198 M'Minn 177