Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1900. A Mistake Somewhere.

Manawatu Herald, 29 March 1900, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1900. A Mistake Somewhere.

The Licensing' Committee election has been a matter of surprises and we very much doubt if the last is heard about it. The storekeepers have their trouble before them in explaining to the Magistrate^ why they kept their shops open on polling day. That some wrong, partially unintentional, was done has been shown by the few who voted at Foxton. We admit that not very much interest was taken by the public in the election, but more votes would have been polled had all the employees been at 1 liberty. . The election is a marked one owing to the very high position on the poll secured by Mr Simpson who received 178 votes more than the next highest scorer. Surely this could only have been secured by either wonderful popularity or mistaken trust. In regard to this there is rather a funny turn in the affairs which deserves notice, as it appears to be a unique case in which both Prohibitionists and publicans selected the one candidate. The battle cry at the election, the purpose for which either side struggled was for the return, as a whofe, of five candidates for prohibition or five moderate men. To have a true battle the representative men met and selected five candidates aside. The Prohibitionists issued a voting ticket containing the five names only of Messrs Simpson, Ransom, McHardie, Woollass and Westwood ; whilst the Licensed Victuallers Association were supposed to have selected Messrs Goughlin, Jenks, Wood, Sutcliffe and Humphrey. It was, so we are informed, a tacit compact that each side would ask .their friends only to support one of the combinations. The first " How to Vote " was issued by the Prohibitionists, and the first name of their five was that of B. E. Simpson, the Marton Prohibitionists having nominated him as a good and true representative. The licensed victuallers at Marton also issued a "How to Vote " slip, and to the astonishment of the licensed victuallers in this district, their paper contained surnames, the last of whioh was that of the Prohibition candidate — R. K. Simpion ! This was, naturally, which was exceeded however by the peculiar request made to the electors to vot- for the following six candidates when it was known there were only five seats to be filled. Unfortunately this paper was issued by the Licensed Victuallers which makes this proposal of theirs rather peculiar and liable to such misconstruction that a prohibitionist mistake could not be open to. It is to the credit of the licensed victuallers here, to record they noticed the peculiarity of the paper issued by their conferes at Marton and they promptly issued a less misleading document in which the names agreed to at the conference of the trade were retained, but the impossible, of trying to place six men in the room of five demanded by the Act, was avoided, and the recommendation to return a nominee of the Prohibition party was not urged. Thus the number of votes secured by Mr Simpson has been

obtained by many ardent prohibitionists believing they were voting for a man and a brother, and by the supporters of the Moderate party who were led to believe they were returning a man who was clear of any wholly one-sided view of an important trade question. It undoubtedly is a pity that the mistake has arisen as it has led to an unsatisfactory election, in which both sides have been very much misled. We wait for some explanation that may in some manner smooth away the origin of the extraordinary request made by the Licensed Victuallers' Association.