THE GENERAL ELECTION.

RESULT OF THE WELLINGTON POLLING. MESSRS. FISHER 7 DUTHIE, AND MACDONALD RErURNJiD. The political turmoil which has riven the city— in common with the reßt of the oolony —for tho last couple of months has now ended, and oitizens will again settle down to their regular trades or businesses with the consciousness that their Parliamentary representatives have been eleoted for the next three years, unless it shall please the Governor to sooner send the now House of Representatives about its business. The Wellington electors and tho publio generally may take credit to themselves for the extremely orderly manner in whioh yesterday's conteat was conducted. Large aa were the crowds that collected and kfen as was the competition, every man seemed to keep himself thoroughly under control, and little or nothing occurred that there is any reason to regret. The polling was very steady at all the city booths throughout the afternoon. After 5 o'clook there was a great influx of working men, who recorded their votes on the way home from work. The bmk of these made their way to the oentral booth in Cuba-street extension, which lay directly in their route to Te Aro or New town. There, indeed, most of the interest in the election was concentrated. For some time, when the rush waa at its greatest, there was great difficulty in keeping open a passage from the street to tho doorway. On the footpath were gathered touters for each of the candidates, who good-humouredly accosted every new arrival and plied him with cards directing him " how to vote." There were also sundry other gentlemen about who had indulged rather freely in liquid refreshment dnring the day, and these also did their share of obstruction. Sergeant Blaok and a small force of constables wore called upon to interfere, aud for tbe rest of the day they managed to see that every voter had free access to the booths. Of course the policemen were made the butt of the merry men on the footpath, and had to submit to Buoh little indignities as the placing of candidates' cards upon their uniforms, but everything waa done in a good spirit, and the best ot feeling was maintained. Towards the hour for closing the poll there was a lull in the arrival of voters at all the city booths, and for the laßt ten minutes matters wore very quiet indeed, all available electors having apparently been brought up to the scratch in good time. Seven o'clook oame, the doors were closed punctually, and Mr. James, with his deputies and their assistants, set to work to asoertain in what direotion the verdict of the public had been cast. Thanks to tho excellent system devised by Mr. James for oheoking and tallying the votes, the Wellington returns were oompleted far in advance of those for tha other large oentres of population—an hour and a-half before those of Dunedin, whioh came next in order. At about 10 minutes after 10 o'clock — the returns from all the branch booths having been brought together at tho central polling place — Mr. James announoed to an assemblage of several hundred electors that the polling had resulted as follows :— Georqk Fisher 2851 John Duthie 2785 T. K. Macdonald 2498 H D. Bell 2305 E. G. Jellicoe 1920 F. H. Fraser 1762 W. M'Lean 1067 R. Winter , 72J [These figures aro slightly altered by the addition of the seamen's votes, and the corrected totalH will bo found in the analysis given below.] Almost simultaneously the news was flashed by telephone to the Evening Post offioe, whe-e the proprietors of this journal had the satisfaction of being the first to announoe the result of the eleotion to about half tho population of Wellington. An enthusiastic demonstration followed As the name of each ot the successful candidates was posted upon our hoarding, in tho full blaze of the electric light, tremendous cheers were raised by hia supporters, and the din waa kept up with remarkable energy for two or three minutes. Then tho newly-eleoted legislators were sought out by their friends for personal congratulation, hoisted shoulder high, paraded in oabs, .tor subjected to various other means by whioh electors are wont to work off effervescent exultation. THE NEW MEMBERS' ADDRESSES. Shortly after the poll had been declared Mr. Fisher addressed a large orowd from the balcony of the Albert Hotel, Willisstreet, and was received with the greatest enthusiasm. In the course of his remarks he said he looked upon the triumph of the day as the crowning point of a great politioal career. (Hear, hoar.) There was no man in this country who had ever fought Buch a battle against such terriblo odda. (Loud cheers.) The heart of the people had been true to the core ; if it had not been so, they could never have had such a triumph as they had achieved that day. The triumph was not so much a triumph of Mr Fisher as a triumph of the people themselves, who had proved that they were true to the welfare of the people themselves. (A voice— "Well, done, George.") He wished to return thanks, not bo much on behnlf of himself as those whole-Bonled gentlemen who had stood behind him during the eleotion. (A voice—" Don't forget the Unionists for this.") The members of his committoo had worked incessantly— (Hear, hear), and ho would ask thorn to give a vote of thanks to Miss Crawford, of the Albert Hotel. (At this stage three rousing cheers were given for the lady named.) He had defended tho interests of the working olasseß of t he oity when it was dangerous to defend their interests. (ApplaußO.) He took it that incorporated in the result of this election was tho thankfulness of the Unionists and others, who saw that he was a man who did not fear to face great foroes against them and himself. (Cheers.) Mr. Fisher brought his remarks to a conclusion by thankiDg the electors for plaoing him at the top of the poll, and oalling upon them to give three oheers for the Liboral party. Cheers were aooordingly given for tho Liberal party, and some more were given for Mr. and Mra. Fisher. Mr. Fisher, accompanied by his wife, then entered a cab, and was driven homeward, preoeded by the Tinakori Drum and Fife Band, which played lively airs an route. The carriage was followed by an immense crowd, and every now and then ringing obeers were given for Mr. Fisher, who acknowledged the compliment by doffing his belltopper. On arrival at Mr. Fisher's house a largo number of people went inside and warmly congratulated him on his success. Mr. Duthie was at Mb private residenoe in Percival-street when the result; of the poll was made known. As soon as the figures had been made publio a large orowd of hia friends proceeded to tho house and expressed their pleasure at the faot that he had been returned. Mr. Duthie addressed the assemblage in the open air, thanking the eleotors for the coufidence thoy had repoßod in him and assuring them that he would be watchful of their interests during his oonneotion with Parliament. Later on ho waa serenaded by Jenkins' Band, and Bubsequent'y another deputation of citizens waited upon him and offered their congratulations. Mr. Macdonald was outside the polling booth in Cuba-street when the result was declared and after receiving the congratulatioLS of a host of supporters, he drove down to the Exchange Buildings. Before his arrival there the figures had been displayed ou the Evening Post hoarding, and a large seotion of the spectators quiokly made their way into the Exchange Hall in the expectation of boing addressed by Mr. Macdonald. The ontranoe of that gentleman was the signal for an outburst of applause whioh which lasted for a minute or two. He returned his warmest thanks for the honour conferred upon him, and thought the electors were to be congratulated on returning a majority in favour of the Liberal party. The three candidates eleoted for Wellington would, he folt sure, work in unison in tbe interests of the oolony ii general and of Wellington in particular, and he assured the electors he would faithfully adhere to the pledges he had given. At the finish of hia speeohf urther oheers were given for Mr. Macdonald, who acknowledged the compliment and thanked his committee for their arduous labonra on his behalf. Cheers were also given for Mr. William Miller, managing clerk for Messrs. T. K. Maodonald & Co., and Mr. Macdonald acknowledged that Mr. Miller, who had been with the firm sinoe boyhood, and who enjoyed their fullett confidence, had done much to Becure his return. Mr. Maodonald then entered an open carriage outside the building, and the horses having been taken out ho was drawn to his house by a number of hiß supporters Cheering waa indulged in on the way to his residenoe in Abel Mnith-street, and as the vehicle entered the grounds Jenkins' Band, whioh waa stationed on the verandah, struck up " See the Conquering Hero Comes." Several Sootchairs were afterwards played, "Auld Lang Syne " bringing the proceedings to a olose. The following is an analysis of the votes recorded at the booths in the Wellington electorate : —

All the seamen's votes recorded elsewhere in respeot of the Wellington election have reaohed the Returning Offinor. They were opened and counted this morning, with the following result :— Mr. Bell secured throe votes, Mr. Duthie three, and Messrs. Fraser, Macdonald, Jelliooe, and Winter one eaoh. It is reported that the comparison of the scrutineers' and marked rolls shows that large numbers of people voted in more than one booth. If this is the case, it will be discovered when the Returning Officer and his deputies meet next week to compare rolls before making the final official declaration of the state of the poll. The rule in such cases is that whenever an eleotor is found to have voted in two separate booths at the same election, the way in whioh his votes were

cast shall be ascertained, and both votes be dieallowed. Several persons were debarred from voting yesterday through having neglected to notify changes of residenoe to the Returning Offioer. Iv eaoh case notice had been sent by post to the old address of tbe liability to be strnok off, on account of supposed removal from the district, and in default of reply the name had been erased by the Eeßident Magistrate from the offioial roll, though it appeared on the rolls originally printed. THE EVENING POST ILLUMINATION. The great attraction of the night was undoubtedly ths display of the eleotion returns at the Evening Post offioe by means of eleotrio light. Following up their invariable practice of finding the best possible means of plaoing the latest newß before the Wellington public, tho proprietors of this journal had made extensive arrangements with their correspondents in all parts of the colony for the early transmission of results of the contest by telograph. The returns received from these sources, togetherwith those furnished by the Press Association and the Government departments, were compiled by members of our staff as quiokly as Doasiblo, and conveyed to the public in printed form on three large hoardings erected on the verandah opposite our publishing offioe, and facing Willis aud Harbour streets and Lambton-quay respectively. The lighting arrangements were carried out by the Guloher Eleotrio Lighting Company, under the direot management of Mr. A. I. Baron, one of the electrical engineers to tho company, who are the contractors for the lighting of the oity, and that gentleman is entitled to warm congratulations upon the results of his handiwork, as is also his able assistant, Mr. Dawson, who three years ago assisted at our electric light installation on a similar occasion. Around the margin of eaoh hoarding there was a row of 16 candle-power eleotrio lights, with one lamp of 50-candle-power in each angle. Above the middle board the letters of the word Post were outlined in alternate red and clear lights, Burrounded by a reotangular border, and surmounted by agabloshaped series of faintly blue-tintod globes, all of 16 oandle-power. Above these thoro came two converging rows of red and white lamps, whioh culminated high in mid-air in a brilliant group of four 50 candle-power lights, and these again were outshone by three splendid lamps of 200 oandle-power plaoed high over all else. The eleotrio foroe was taken from the oity lines, under speoial arrangements with the City Counoil, and the ourrent was converted from high tension to low tension by means of transformers placed in the room at the back of the hoardings. All the returns were distinctly visible to the spectators in the street, and viewed from a little distanoo the display wasimmensely effective. Tho proprietors of the Post were warmly complimented upon their enterprise, and before tho orowd dispersed late at night three hearty oheers were given for Blundoll Bros. The display will be repeated to-night, the electric light being kept on from 8 o'clock to 11 o'olook. All returns rooeivsd to-day have boen posted, and others will be posted this evening as the telegrams arrive. HOW THE NEWS WAB RECEIVED. The electric current was turned on at about 8 o'clook, when several thousand people had assembled in tho vioinity of our office. As the evening advanced the numbers were steadily swelled, and by 10 o'olook there was a vast throng extending far along the three main streets whioh unite in this neighbourhood. Enormous as was the crowd, its behaviour was admirable. In the early part of the evening there was a disposition on tho part of Borne sportive youngsters to indulge in the paßtime of throwing flour or eggs. Thanks, however, to the oapital arrangements made by Inspector Thomson, who had a Btrong foroe of plain-clothes and uniformed policemen in attendance, this praotioe was quiokly suppressed. Most of those present had turned out to Bee the display and hear the news, and were too seriously interested for frivolity. Tram and 'bus traffio were carried on during tho night, two mounted troopers olearing the way for eaoh veAwJ* as it came along, and everything was done decently aud in order. Tho first return (7.25 p.m) shown upon the boards was from Eden elootorate, which showed tho Native Minister to have such a majority as plaoed his eleotion beyond doubt. Shortly afterwards there oame such news from Port Chalmers as proved that tho Seoretary of the Maritime Council had found tho General Manager of the Union Stoam Ship Company too firmly established there to bo readily unseated. This result was loudly oheored. The next telegram to hand sent a feeling of great disappointment through tho orowd. It oonveyed the news that the respected Speaker of the last Honse of Representatives was in danger of being beaten at Manukau by Mr Frank Buckland —news whioh subsequent telegrams only too fully confirmed. This was, indeed, generally regarded as tho saddest blow of the whole eleotion, and oninionß were widely expressed that Sir Maurica O'Rorke's exclusion from Parliament waß an irreparable loss to the oolony. Ab eaoh return waa put up, demonstrations of different kinds oame from the assemblage. Mr. Dunoan's viotory over the Minister for Eduoation at Oamaru was hailed with tremendous oheering, together with loud exclamations of " Good riddance," and other cries that were not exaotly complimentary to Mr, Hislop. About the most tantalising piece of news was ths first intimation received as to the Waitotara election, whioh was always expected to be one of tha moßfc keenly contested, and was of especial interest in Wellington. The only telegram that arrived up to a late hour was one whioh gave eaoh candidate 758 votes, with the returns yet incomplete. Even now the result of this contest is by no means oertain. The Dunedin City return, whioh oame to hand at 11.30, was received with mixed feelings, for while there was muoh exultation at the faot that three labour candidates had boon returned, it was somewhat damped by the personal unpopularity of Mr Wm. Hutohison. Eangitikei returns last night seemed to favour Mr. Arkwright, but to-day's figures have reversed that result. The crowd of spectators remained in the street until about one o'olook oheering the snooess of their popular candidates. We have to thank Mr. Robertson, and the offioers of tho Telegraph Department, for the excellent manner in whioh our messages were delivered, and the attention Bhown at the Telephone Exchange. The Press Association and its agents may be complimented on the manner in whioh they furnished information as to the election returns last night. Our own correspondents were _ also alert, and in several instances anticipated all information from other Bources.

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