THE BY-ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 286, 12 May 1915, Page 4

THE BY-ELECTION.

TIIE I'AIiTY LEADERS ACTIVE. THE POSITION OF PARTIES. > (By Wire.—Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Last Night. The date of the Bay of Islands byeleotion has not yet been announced* Possibly it has not yet been decided, and in the meantime the party leaders are saying little and doing a good deal. Rumor is busy with the name of the Opposition eanddate, but it is certain that 110 linal choice will be made before Sir Joseph Ward reaches the north on Friday or Saturday. Several apparently strong men are available for the Liberal nomination, and the selection may not be a very easy matter, though there is reason to believe that the chosen candidate will have the support of an undivided party. The man most favored at, the present lime is Mr, 0. G. Mendies, engineer to the Jlokianga Council, and a well-known local figure. Mr. Menzies is not a young man, but he is .itetivo and popular. "" ' / "The position of parties remains much as it was," said the Prime Minister today. " The Reform Party is. certainly one less than it was before the decision of the Court. It is now forty, fmd the amalgamation of all the other parties, if such be ell'octed, will give them a vote of thirty-nine members. Supposing they do unite against us, which is quite possible, we still have a majority of one."' Mr. Massey is still counting Tau Hon&re as a member of the Reform Party, though the Native member himself persists in stating his political independence and denying his own supporters .information regarding the way lie will vote when the hour of decision arrives.