The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1911. THE BY-ELECTION.

The Opposition party has no reason to feel dissatisfied with the result of the by-election for Christchurch North, which was won by the Rev. L. M. Isitt with 3815 votes, and a majority of 709 votes over the Opposition candidate, Mr J. D. Hall. It was not in the ordinary sense a political election. Mr Isitt was in the position of being able to take advantage of a great wave of sentiment which was created by the death of the late Mr T. E- Taylor, the former member for the electorate. It is doing no injustice to the successful candidate to say that his most potent aid in the election was the memory of the late -Mr Taylor. Hundreds of those who voted for him did not care a rush what Mr Isitt's politics might be; judging by his latest speeches we doubt if he could define them now himself with much precision. Enough for them that he was the friend and fellow-fighter for Prohibition of the late Mr Taylor, that he had pressed his dying hand and preached his funeral oration, and claimed to have taken up the mantle which fell from the late member for Christchurch North. Mr Hall was thus at a great disadvantage in entering the fray, and that he should have polled so largely in the unusual circumstances will be surprising and encouraging to his friends. Apart from the external sentiment prevailing he was a much younger man, and far less widely known than his opponent, whose vigorous platform advocacy of Prohibition had given him a prominence and reputation, not political, but j still most useful, with which a [new aspirant to public honours, however earnest and however able, could not hope to vie- It will be interesting now to watch how Mr Isitt will shape as an Independent member in his new sphere of politics. To appreciate how well Mr Hall has done in most exceptional conditions, it is only necessary <o remember that the electorate for which he stood has never been able before to pro-

due* au Opposition candidate, let at a time when no political reasoning Could have stemmed the torrent of a sentimental impulse his personality and earnest advocacy of the Reform Party'* views enabled him to poll very heavily against his opponent. There is an old ballad which be'gms: " 0 1 had dreamed an eorie dream. Beyond the isle of Skye, I saw a dead man win a fight, And I think that man was I." That dream has been realised b? the Christchurch North election, put the election of two months hence wiJj be fought by living men on living issues, and Mr Hall's performance in the face of heavy disadvantages affords '.he brightest omens for his success when he stands then.