LABOUR WINS.

RAGLAN BY-ELECTION. REFORM STRONGHOLD TAKEN. COMPLETE REVERSAL OF 'OPINION. DETAILS OF THE VOTING. The Government lost the Raglan seat to Labour at the by-election held yesterday. Mr. Lee Martin, the official Labour candidate, was returned with a majority of 195 votes over Mr. A. J. Waring, the official Reformer. There are 95 absentee votes still to be allotted. Defeated decisively in what was regarded as one of its greatest strongholds, the Reform party has room for little excuse, for the Independent Reform candidate polled singularly few votes, fewer, iadeed, than the Country party's representative. A measure of revival of Liberalism in the district is indicated by the fact that Mr. T. Parker, who supported the old party's platform, held the intermediate position on the poll, whereas at the general election in 1925 the Nationalist candidate received very meagre support. The completeness of the reversal of public opinion in the electorate may be gauged from the fact that in 1925 the late Hon. R. F. Bollard—whose death caused the necessity for the byelection—scored 4470 votes, against 1614 votes cast in favour of his most serious opponent in the field, Mr. E. Piggott (Labour).

The effective voting strength of the I electorate was 82G8, and 6165 electors exercised their franchise yesterday, against 7271 in 1925. The results of the last two elections in Raglan were as follows: — i 1925.— R. F. Bollard (G.), 4470; B. Piggott (L.), 1614; S. C. G. Lye (N.), 965; R. D. Duxfield (C.), 222. Majority for Bollard, 2856. 1922.— R. F. Bollard (G.), 3494; S. C. G. Lye (Lib.), 2718; E. Piggott, 99. r Majority for Bollard, 776. i The candidates received votes yester- i day as follows:— i W. Lee Martin (Labour) ... 2220 A. H. Waring (Reform) .... 2025 1 T. Parker (Liberal) 1095 * C. A. Magner (Country) .... 532 W. J. Taylor (Ind. Reform) . 198 ' Total votes recorded 6070 J Majority for Lee Martin .. 195 Miners Solid for Labour. I Perusal of the returns from th© in- ' dividual booths indicates that the coal mining townships in the electorate, such as Glen Afton and Pukemiro, played a big part in placing Mr. Lee Martin at the head of the list. Six returns from mining townships, for instance, gave 1329 votes for the Labour nominee and a little over 200 for Mr. Waring. Out of the 50 booths, 32 returns showed majorities for the Government candidate and 17 for Mr. Martin. The margins in many cases, however, wer© very i small. Details of the polling are:—

Mag- Mar- Par- Tay- Warner. tin. Iter. lor. lng. Aka Aka .... 2 9 10 1 62 Buckland .... 35 26 54 0 83 Churchill 1 7 1 0 5 Glenafton ... 1 173 5 0 14 Glenbrook ... 33 5 16 1 28 Glen Massey . 3 126 5 0 40 Glen Murray.. 2 3 1 8 12 Hopu "Hopu 0 14 4 0 18 Horotiu .... 21 50- 25 3 35 Huntly 20 680 65 2 119 Kaawa 0 3 6 1 5 Karamu .... 5 6 0 0 1 Kiinihia ..... O 11 - 0 6 Koromatna 9 8 5 O 6 Naike 1 2 1 2 10 Ngaruawahla 17 237 135 2 204 Okete 0 6 9 0 8 Onewhero ... 14 12 36 23 79 Opuatla 0 8 0 1 3 Otaua 11 13 38 2 86 Port Walkato 0 5 2 7 4 Pukekawa ... 6 9 24 6 40 Pukekohe East 11 0 4 0 15 Pukekohe Hill 6 4 7 2 34 Pukemlro .... 2 171 11 1 20 Pukemlro Jn.. O 72 2 1 6 Pukeoware 6 0 7 0 23 Punl 6 19 11 1 98 Kaglan ..'.... 2 30 128 0 64 Rangirirl West O 5 10 3 7 Kotokauri .... 14 0 0 0 7 Uotongaro ... 4 39 0 0 15 liotowaro .,.. 1 OS 8 0 8 Kuakiwi ..... .S 0 11 0 11 Ruapuke .... 0 2 7 0 17 Xaupiri 2 63 19 0 108 Te Akau .... 14 6 13 0 13 Te Kohanga . 1 1 0 3 28 Te Kowhai .. 78 12 6 4 19 Te Mata 0 8 38 1 42 Te Uku 4 38 6 0 13 Tuakau 49 56 88 107 120 Waimai 7 0 2 2 18 Waingaro .... 11 8 6 0 22 Wairamarama 0 2 2 2 12 Waitetuna 0 1 11 0 18 Waiuku 37 80 221 1 373 Whangarata 15 11 2 7 4 Whatawhata 68 44 25 X 41 Woodleigh ... 6 8 6 3 1 Totals .. 532 2220 1095 198 2025