WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 316, 16 June 1915, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent)

THE BAT OF ISLANDS ELECTION.

Wellington, June 9. The victory of the Government candidate in the Bay of Islands by-election was a decisive one, and the figures have stimulated the hopes of the Reformers with regard to the Taumarunui contest. One is assured in Ministerial circles that the Taumarunui electors are going to reverse the decision of last December wid place the Government candidate at the head of the poll. If they do, the Government will have a nominal majority of four and will be able to face the session with some equanimity. But the balance of probabilities appear to be in the other direction. The Buy of Islands returns are not as reassuring, from the point of view of ti.« Ministers, as they are claimed to be. The voting at the general election was as follows: Reed (Government) 2328, Wilkinson (Government) 157G, Buck (Opposition) 2220, Thus 3904 votes were cast in favor of the Government and 2220 for the Opposition. Yesterday the Opposition helds its ground, scoring some 2210 votes, while the Government supporters numbwtd 3196 (with one small return to come), showing a substantial decline as compared with the total for the two Reform candidates in December. The figures may be read in more ways than one, and the Evening Post, for example, suggests that the explanation of the apparent decline in the Government vote is that some of the supporters of Mr. Wilkinson did not vote on the present occasion. But there is no evidence to show that the decline in the,total poll affected one party more than the other, and it is likely that the Liberals, with a rather weak candidate in the field, fared at least as much as their opponents did from the failure of some electors to record their votes. The important point at the moment, of course, is the Government has retained the »M>t, wid so got "a leg in" for the doable victory both parties have been desiring. The Taumarunui electors will decide next week whether the Government shall have a small majority of its own or be dependent upon the goodwill of Mr. Tau Henare, who is still silent upon the suibjeet of his political allegiance. THE RECRUITING QUESTION. Your correspondent was in the Wellington recruiting office to-day and heard a young man who had come to enlist asking how soon ho might hope to get into camp. The recruiting officer had ' to tell him that he had no chance of | beginning his training at Trentham before October, and the would-be soldier I ' went away obviously disappointed. The I recruit who enters upon his training In j October will not be ready to leave New Zealand till the beginning of February, and can scarcely expect to reach the firing line, wherever it may be, before the end of March next, when the end of the war should be in sight. This state of affairs is perplexing to the man who ' has been reading the appeals of the Do- j fence Minister for additional recruits in ' a hurry, and it has to be confessed that Allen has not always made his meaning quite clear. Yesterday he removed some of the misunderstandings that have been created by putting on record a. statement that has been circulated already through the Press Association. He uaid in effect, that there was no shortage of men, that he had in hand all the men he wanted for the near future, but that he wanted to have enough recruits registered to provide the reinforcement drafts well into next year. The Defence Department would like to have enough men on its books, ready to go into camp at all, to fill the ranks of the ninth, tenth and eleventh reinforcements r and so on to the fifteenth and even the ' twentieth reinforcements. The thirteenth reinforcements, it may be mentioned, will ibe put into training in the ordinary course of events just a year hence and will not reach the firing' line before the early part of 1917. The. .Seventh Reinforcements will report at Trentham next week, and the Department has enough men in hand to fill the eighth, though some districts may lnve ] to provide additional recruits for that body if tlie quota system is preserved in its present form. Does all this mean that the young men need not volunteer now? There is a growing feeling here that it ought to mean something quite different, namely, that the time has arrived for the further enlargement of the Expeditionary Force. If the Empire needs men it seems strange that young New Zealanders should be kept at home because there are no places for them at Trentham for many months to come.

OARXIVAL QUE EX CONTEST. j Wellington's "Carnival Queen" contest is proceeding merrily, and the patriotic committees are saying tliat all records ure going to tie eclipsed by the capital' city in tlie size of the final contribution to the Patriotic, Fund. The average citizen lias a pocket full of raffle tickets of one sort and another, and his persistent lack of small change is the despair of tlie tram conductors, who try to balance the account by selling him tickets in connection with their own particular candidate for the quccnsliip, Flags and streamers in the colors of the various candidates flutter all over tlie city, and patriotic entertainments appear to be proceeding all the time. The big effort is causing some anxiety to the people who have undertaken to keep tlie Belgian Fund going. They feel that tliey must not falter in their task, for tlie need of the unhappy Belgian nation is immediate and growing, for it is obvious that there is a limit to tlie community's capacity for giving, and tlie resources of .the generous arc being taxed severely already. It might be mentioned in this connection that the people ill charge of the Hospital Ship' Fund, with his Excellency the Governor at their head, appear to be collecting rather more money than they need. Tlie original estimate of the'cost of equipping tlie ship (the Government pays for the internal alterations and tlx: general littings) was between £IO,OOO and £l-,-000. The amount of money already in hand is understood to be nearer £40,000 than £30,001), and subscriptions are still being received. The readiness of the public to assist in a good work is very gratifvinpt. but it is a pity that one fund should be swelled unnecessarily at_ a time when other funds connected with the war really need the money. Sooner or later the Dominion will have to set atiout organising these patriotic efforts, in order to avoid overlapping and wastage. Home tentative steps have licen taken in that direction already, by the Government and by private individuals, but local interests in the various districts appear suspicious of interference from outside. 'That is a pity, for coordination of effort would have a subetautial oasli v:\luo j\t tlio pi< time.

1 AN INTERESTING RETURN,

A return that kept the Electoral Department busy for many weeks is published in the Gazette. It is the official jeeord of the results of the general election of 1914, compiled from the figureß furnished by the electoral officers in the various districts of the Dominion. The return is full of interesting material from the point of view of the student of political affairs. The total number of electors who voted at the election of 1914 was 521,525, as against 492,912 jn 191.1. Very nearly 300,000 of the voters were resident in the North Island, which returned 42 members (apart from the Maori seats), while the South Island returned 34. The votes represented more tlian half the population of the iDommion, which stood at 1,002,208 at the time of the election. The advocates of proportional representation are not likely to overlook the significance of the following table prepared by the Electoral Department:— Number of votes recorded for candidates elected 255,453 Number of votes recorded for candidates defeated 229,474 Number of informal votes ... 0,019 Total number of electors who voted 521,529 Percentage of votes recorded for candidates elected to total valid votes recorded ... 55.52 Total number of electors on _ th e roll 615,0413 Percentage of votes recorded for candidates elected to total number of electors on roll 40.50

In other words, Parliament was elected by 40.50 of the people on the roll. Tlie votes of 286,433 electors were effective, while 229,474 electors voted for defeated candidates and so have no direct representation in Parliament at all. The inequalities of the present system of election are illustrated by the official figures in another way. Of the total number of votes recorded in the \orth Island the Opposition candidates (Liberal, LaJbor and Independent) receiverl slightly more than half. A calculation made before the final official figure* were available showed an Opposition majority of 79 votes for the North Island. Rut the Government candidates won 28 seats and the Opposition only 16. The electoral system, clumsy and ineffective, failed to record the popular will. The error was in the other direction in thd South Island, where the total Opposition majority was something in the neighborhood of 30,000 votes. Liberal and Labor candidates won 21 seats to the Government's 13, although they were not entitled, on the figures, to an excess of more than three or four seats at most. The electoral system, in its blundering way, remedied in part the error shown in the proportional strength of the party representatives returned in the North Island.

TV following table compares the actual result of tlio general election with tlie result that woulil have been shown if the Dominion had possessed a scientifically accurate electoral system, such as the advocates of proportional representation are demanding:— Xortli Island. fiovt. Lib. Ind. Actual result 243 13 3 liesult according to party strength (approximate) 21 17 4 South Island. Actual result 13 18 3

Result according to party strength (approximate) 13 18 3 The official figures show that if the parties were represented according to their strength as revealed at tile polls, the (loverranent. would hold 36 of the European seats and the combined Op-, position 40 seats.