ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 225, 27 June 1873, Page 6

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

CAVERSHAM. , The battle royals of the election campaign was fought last Friday. In no por- : tion of the Pi'ovince, whether for, Superintendent or for ; Councillors, has there been such a keen fight, as. has just: terminated in the usually quiet district of It was there that the two sides determined ■ to do their best ; more than that, the Government side made no secret of' their' intention to beat Mr Stout, if possible no stone was left unturned by Mr Leary and his supporters to accomplish that object. . The excitement was even stronger in Dunedin than in Caversham itself, and in town the supporters of either man were not loth to back him heavily, though Mr Stout was slightly the favorite 1 with the betting men. During the half-hour that elapsed between the close of the poll at Caversham and the announcement of the result of the ■ voting, there might have' been seen excited knots of men in what is termed the principal street of the" town-' ship, eagerly discussing the chances of success of either candidate; but go where one might, it was not possible to find anyone who believed that" the 1 -majority would be ten one way or the other. The prevailing opinion was that it would be very, close —" horribly close," said one individual, must have had some considerable sum on the result—and many went the length of prophesying a tie, and hazarding an opinion as to which way the Be turning Officer would vote, were he called upon to do so. At a few seconds past the half-hour, Mr Street appeared at the door of the drill - shed, and "announced the result of the polling at the booth as follows : Stout ..... ... 142 Leary ... ... 127 The announcement was received with loud cheering ; the Stoutites applauding because they asserted with such a majority their man was quite safe ; Mr Leary's ' friends, .on the Other hand, declaring with equal confidence that victory lay on their side, becaus# they expected thait Mr Stout's majority at Cavershanr would have been thirty, and; that their • candidate would more than pull up the required number at Mornington and Roslyn, in each of which places they had reckoned to have a majority. The hopes of the lat- - tei* were increased considerably when, ten minutes afterwards', Mr Leary drove into Caversham "and announced that he had secured a majority of six at H6slyn, the pol, ling there having been Leary ... ... 29 Stout ... ... 23 Tnere was now only the Mornington return to come, and Mr Leary only required ten to win. It was an anxious half-hour to all parties, before Constable Henderson rode in with the papers from that district; and then it became known that Mr Stout'g majority had increased to eleven, at which his supporters cheered loudly. ; In a few minutes Mr Street appeared and an* notlnced the full returns to be Stout. Leary, . Caversham 142 127 Roslyn ... ... 23 29 Mornington ... 25 23 : 190 179 Majority for Stouty 11.