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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 25, 30 June 1913, Page 4

THE GREY SEAT. The fight for the Grey seat, rendered vacant by the deatli of the Speaker. Sir AHhur Guinness, has commenced in earnest. It is a three-cornered affair, and how it will eventuate is exceedingly hard to predict. Mr. 11. L. Michel, who ran Mr. Tom Seddon very closely during the last two elections for the Wcstland seat is the Government candidate; Mr. Honnan carries the Opposition banner; and Mr. Webb, of Red Federation fame, is a straight-out Labor candidate. Mr. Michel, who hitherto has stood as an independent Liberal, is a strong man, being a good platform speaker, successful in business, and with twenty-five years' experience of public service. For sixteen years he was Mayor of Hokitika, and he also held other important public positions. He is popular in his own district, but whether he will achieve the same popularity in the Grey remains to be seen. There is little love lost between the two communities, and this prejudice may operate against his chances. Mr. Hannan, on the other hand, is essentially a Grey man, and has rendered the district valuable service in various respects on many occasions. If it were a straight-out contest between him and Mr. Michel, he would probably '"walk home," for the electorate is Liberal in political conviction. But tlu: participation of a Labor candidate discounts Ills chances and complicates the situation. If Mr. Webb can obtain the whole of the Labor vote, then it will he lie, and not Mr. Hannan, who will have to light it out, probably at a second ballot, with Mr. Michel. In this event, the latter may receive the Liberal support, and the combined forces of Liberal and Government may be strong enough to defeat Labor. Labor and Liberal combined could win and hold the scat as it was held for many years by the late Sir Arthur Guinness, but the parties are not a happy family, the feeling between them being more bitter than between cither of them

and tlic Government Party. Therein lies the Government's opportunity. In the circumstances the election can olfer no test of the political feeling of the country. The result will depend entirely upon the relations of the Labor and Liberal adherents to each other. The contest, on that account, will be as interesting as it is uncertain.