The Election.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, 18 December 1914, Page 2

The Election.

The polling at Huntly booth last Thursday was very heavy, being the biggest poll ever taken, and the officials appointed by Mr Elliot, the Returning Officer, were kept going almost without a moment’s respite during t whole day. The work the harder by reason of a nelr method of gumming the corners of the voting papers down. In former times, the corners of the F papers had a little gum on them, and this had only to be moistened and the corner folded over, but on this occasion, the corner was fastened down by means of a strip of gummed paper, which was a nuisance to handle, often sticking to the fingers, and frequently getting wrong way on across the corner. No doubt the inventor of of the new system had good intentions, but we are afraid they have not been realised, and it is to be hoped that some better system will be found before next election. Despite this handicap, however, the staff managed to get through their work without any undue delay, and at six o’clock, all who desired to record their votes had done so, and the counting was commenced as soon as the booth closed. The organisation of the electorate was so good that by ten o’clock most of the returns were in, and Raglan has the honour of being one of the first electorates to publish complete returns. The result of the polling over the whole Dominion goes to show that parties are very evenly divided, and whichever party is"in power for the next three years, will have a good strong opposition to keep it in order. If it is a fact that a strong opposition ensures good legislation, then it is to be hoped that no appeal be made to the country until three years hence, for whichever party is in power will have the strongest possible opposition to face.

THE PROHIBITION POLL The results of the Local Option and National Option polls are somewhat difficult to understand, and it is not our intention to try to explain them, but it would be well for each of us to look well at the figures and try to grasp their meaning as well as may be. For some reason, the efforts put forth by the opposing parties have this time been much less strenuous than they were three years agU^ At least so it appears to the man in the street. When this was " commented on, we were told that J a great deal of effective work wa s being done in a quiet way by both parties. Whether this quiet way of working is more effective than the more noisy and public way we have been used to, or whether it is more effective for one side than the other, is hard to say, but it is evident even from the incomplete figures we have before us, that the No-License vote has receded to the extent of something like six per cent on the National issue, while Local NoLicense seems to be as little desired in “ wet ” districts as Local Restoration in “dry” districts. At the 1911 National Option Poll, only nine electorates returned a majority for Continuance, and in every case the majority was a small one, being nowhere over 300, while from the incomplete 1914 returns to hand, it would appear that National Coutinuance had been carried in 33 electorates, the majorities ranging as high as 4144. In two cases, electorates that gave a majority for continuance in 1911, have given majorities for No-License in 1914, in two cases a No-License majority has increased, while in all other cases the majority for NoLicense has been substantially reduced. It is worthy of note that in few of the “ dry ” districts was a majority for restoration polled.