STRENUOUS POLLING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 84, 29 September 1911, Page 6

STRENUOUS POLLING.

VOTING WITH RIFLES. Writing to a member of the Timarii ' Herald staff from Buenos Ayrcs on June 27, a resident of Timarii, on a tour of pleasure, had something interesting to ■ say concerning the Mayoral elections at. Laprida. "The Mayoral election," he writes, ''took place on June 25. This, is the second year the place has been run by a man appointed by the Government. The rival parties always managed to keep one another out by having the polls declared void. The last election took place about six months ago. Of course, the appointee of the Government is never quite neutral. He always leans to one side or the other, and you have 1 to look out and see that neither party 1 gets the chance to (ill the booth with their party or they will not come out until time is up, which would, naturailly cause a win. The polling-booth was the church, which the 'in' party held, so ' the 'outs' leaned the sections on cither I side, loop-holed the walls, and stationed 'their supporters behind with loaded rifles. Then the electors came up in batches of 20, first of one side and then the other, recording their votes. No one was killed, but the poll was declared off, the 1 losers managing to have, it upset. For the poll on the 2,">th," the letter continues, "it. was reported that one party was bringing two Maxim guns with i which to back their opinions. The Goj vernment sent down a scrutineer to see , everything was fair, but during the day j he was inspecting one of the ante-rooms and the opposition locked the door, a guard remaining on close watch outside. | Of course the party whom the guard represented won —the poor scrutineer was kept in his prison for three hours. Everyone came with revolvers or knives, and the police were armed with loaded Mansers. If some fool had only fired a shot, there would have been slaughter. . As it was one policeman let his go oil' by accident, and shot his mate dead. ».nd a chap chopped another's hand oil' at the wrist ivith a knife."