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Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 457, 10 September 1879, Page 2

In the Wanganui election, it seems very clear to us, that Sir W. Fox’s own supporters defeated him. Many of them would not recognise the fact that Sir William was standing against both of the other candidates. They would have preferred the defeat of either of the B.’s to his defeat. At the same time they were anxious to secure the defeat of Mr Ballance, and therefore, instead of plumping to secure the main object, they voted for Fox and Bryce, hoping to secure at once the victory, and the defeat they wished for. But by grasping at too much, they lost all. It appears that owing to tho Catholic vote being in favor of Mr Ballance, and the publican interest being opposed to Sir W. Fox, that the return of the former gentleman could not have been prevented. We do not suppose that ten electors voted for “Ballance and Fox,” but we take it for granted that the 547 who voted for Mr Ballance, and the 501 who voted for Sir William, represent 1048 'individuals, probably the whole number who voted. We venture to suppose, again, that very few persons plumped for Mr Bryce, and that his majority consisted, almost entirely, of a large proportion of those who voted for Mr Ballance, and of a large

proportion of those who voted for Sir W. Fox. It is practically certain that all who voted for Mr Ballanco, and did not plump for him, voted also for Mr Bryce. But as numbers, no doubt, did plump for the great B-, Mr Bryce would have been far down, had he not received the votes of those who voted for the two B.’s. That he would have been below 501 wo have not the slightest doubt. It is perfectly clear, then, that he was lifted from the bottom of the poll to the top of it by the supporters of the defeated candidate. Had not Sir William’s supporters been thus generous, the poll would no doubt have placed the names of the throe redoubtables in this order’—Ball an ce, Fox, Bryce. Moral: Never help him whom your enemy is helping, unless you wish bun to beat both of you.

The result of the Wanganui contest illustrates most forcibly another question in which we are deeply interested. In discussing the Redistribution of Scats Bill, wo said that the interests of towns invariably differed from the interests of country districts, and that to cut a country district in two, and tack half to one town, and half to another, was to rob both halves of political power by swamping them with the town vote. Now, Sir' William Fox was undoubtedly the man whom the country districts delighted to honor, but, in accordance with the principle we have just stated, the country was swamped by "the town, and Sir William appeals at the bottom of the poll. We hope that our neighbors of Waverley and Waitotara will remember this fact when the question of the Redistribution of Seats comes up, and that they will unite with ns, heart and soul, to secure a purely Country Electoral District between Wanganui and New Plymouth.