THE Grey Riber Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 790, 7 February 1871, Page 2

THE Grey Riber Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1871.

The General Assembly elections are rapidly concluding. About one-half the number of members of the new Parliament -have been returned, and as the whole of the writs are returnable on the 25th inst., every day will add to the total. So far, the geueral election may be fairly considered to have gone against the present Ministry. In another column, we publish a list of the members already returned for the several districts appended to their names, and indicating their probable course of action, as gathered from their election speeches and previous conduct. It will be seen that, out of thirtyeight members returned, seventeen may be counted upon as declared Oppositionists, and fifteen as supporters of the Ministry. There are six reckoned as "doubtful;" but several of the" names included in' this category may, without much risk, be placed in the ranks of the Opposition. For instance, Mr Reynolds, of Dunedin, is put down amongst the doubtful ones — we suppose because he is always more or less in. that uncertain position ; but he spoke so strongly against the financial policy of the Government during his recent candidature, that he ought to be considered one of its opponents. Then, again, there is Mr Archibald Clark, the member for Franklyh, in the Auckland Province : — it is true that he supported Ministers last session, but he did it very reluctantly, and on mere than one occasion avoided recording lm vote. His sympathies have all along been with the Stafford party, of which he was a loyal member in 1869 ; but the dislocation of the Opposition last year left hun. at a loose end, and he fell to some extent a prey to the Ministerial vultures. Mr Brandon, the member for the Wellington country distinct, is nit essentially what he is made it appear to be. He is " doubtful" only because whilst an adherent of Mr Fox he cannot swallow Mr Vogel — probably he might be regarded as inclined perceptively on the Ministerial side of the scale. Giving the Ministry the benefit of some of the doubtful, members, the balance may, up to the present time, be put down as sixteen for the Ministry, nineteen for the Opposition, and three doubtful. But it is not only in the mere numerical comparison in which the Ministry is a loser. Some of their best supporters of old have lost their seats to men of equal or superior calibre to themselves. Take, for example, the Taieri District, which has once more, after a short lapse of two years, returned its old member, Mr Donald Reid, a staunch member of the Opposition. His predecessor was Mr Howorth, of Dunedin, one of the "dead weights" of the House, but nevertheless a Ministerial supporter. Mr Reid, if not a brilliant member, is ono of those hard logical persistent men that cannot be put down, snubbed, or disregarded. He is rather narrow-minded, but he has all the instincts and pluck in debate that a wiry terrier displays in a battue. Then again we have to notice the rejection by the Clutha electors of Mr Macandrew, in favor of Mr Thompson. Mr Macandrew was not only as a member of the Assembly a thick and thin supporter of the Ministry, but he was also one of their warmest adherents as Superintendent of Otago. He has lost his seat in the House to an Opposition candidate, and he will in all probability lose his Superintendency to Mr Donald Reid, who, of course, will carry additional . weight in the House should such an event occur.

On the other side, there have been some considerable change's. We regret much to see Mr E. C. J. Stevens replaced by Mr Reeves for the Leeston district. Mr Stevens was a rising, painstaking politician, whose worst fault was his having, along with Mr Rolleston and others isolated himself in a political "Cave," and having helped to put Fcx and Yogel into office, although he voted against them ever afterwards. His successor is better known than liked politically. Mr Reeves is a sort of political prig, extremely embarrassing to his colleagues, and of no particular consequence to anybody but himself. Several important elections— important because of the candidates contesting them —will come off in a few days. Wellington city has to choose two members from amongst five candidates, two of whom are men of mark r>n the Opposition side, viz., Messrs Travers and Richmond. Nelson city will pribably return tv\o against Ministers ; Sir David Monro will probably supplant Mr Parker at Motueka, thus adding another powerful member to the rank of the Opposition. The probabilities of the general result of the election are strongly in favor of the expectation that a majority in number and a strong majority in real force will be returned against the present Ministry.