THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1345, 9 January 1915, Page 2

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

BOTH PARTIES CONFIDBN T OF A MAJORITY.

Up to the present no change has occurred in the conditions which arose out of the recent elections. The chief interest centres around Dunedin Central and Hawke’s Bay, represented temporarily by Mr Statham and Dr R. McNab respectively. The Act lays it down that a petition against the return of a member must be presented within twenty-eight days after the day on which the Returning Officer has declared the candidate to be duly elected. The question has been raised, and is not yet settled, as to whether the twenty-eight days is from the date of the first official declaration by the Returning Officer or from the date of the subsequent declaration made by the Returning Officer, made as the result of a recount before a Magistrate. In Dunedin Central the first official declaration was made on the 15th December, and the second, after the magisterial enquiry, ou the 24th December. In Hawke’s Bay the first declaration was made on the 18th December, and the amended declaration on the 29th December. The Act does not apparently make it quite clear as to when the period of twenty-eight days begins, but it is assumed that is will apply from the date of the amended declaration. Whatever the interpretation of the law may be, no petition has yet been received by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Until petitions have been lodged and dealt with by the Supreme Couit, the exact constitution of Parliament must remain in doubt, but it is interesting to note that both the Government and the Opposition are confident of attaining a majority in the new House. —Post.