The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1890.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 288, 6 December 1890, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1890.

For tlia causa that laols assistance, .''js For tho -wTong that needs resistance, J f ' Jor tho future In the distance, -&nd tho good that tvo can do.

elections in the Auckland district yesterday resulted exactly as we had anticipated except in the case of Sir Maurice O'Rorke, whose defeat will cause a feeling of regret throughout the colony. For a period of thirty years Sir Maurice O'Rorke has represented the electors of Onehunga in the jSTew Zealand Parliament, and he may accept the large majority given him by the people among whom he has spent the greater part of his life as a token that fhose who have had the best opportunity of judging his public career have not lost confidence in him. But the enlargement •of the electorate has brought into the field a new element, and the wider area to be canvassed constituted an element in favour of a younger.man. The victory of Mr Buckland yesterday was mainly due to superior organisation and better electioneering tactics.

Sir Maurice o'Jß.orke's defeat is a serious loss to the House of Representatives and the country. He will, no doubt, be called to the Legislative Council, with a possible succession to the Speakership of that body, Sir "William Fitzherbert's great age rendering early retirement probable. And we think that, jealous as the people are of Council appointments, the propriety of marking Sir Maurice O'Rorke's thirty years of public service and preserving to the country his unequalled knowledge of Parliamentary practice, will pass unquestioned.

The succession to the Speakership is now a subject of speculation, and both Government and Opposition will probably run. candidates. If* Mr Rolleston desires the office he will doubtless receive the Government nomination, and he unquestionable possesses many qualifications for it. Mr Rolleston, however, may aim at a portfolio in the reconstructed Cabinet. Mr Hamlin, the Chairman of Committees in the last Parliament, is a possible candidate for the higher office.

Some little time will elapse before the effect of the election upon the position of the Government can be accurately ascertained. The classified list published in another column has been framed upon telegraphic information received from the various districts; but political parties are too loosely defined and candidates too indefinite in their utterances for any classification to be exact. The entrance into the arena of about twenty-seven new members also introduces an element of complication. On the Government side heavy damage has been inflicted in the defeat of the Hon. T. Hislop, Messrs McGregor, Beetham, and Arthur, while the Ministry last session received a general support from Messrs Monk, Seymour, Humphreys, Allen, Ross, Pylce, and Hodgkinson, whose places will know them no more. On the other hand, the Opposition have lost Messrs Larnach, Lance, Barron, Fraser, Kerr, Guinness, Reeves, Grimmond, Walker, Verrall, Buxtoo, Feld-

wick, and Brown, and so far as is" at present known, Hutchison. If there is a compact Opposition majority, the proper course for its members to pursue will be that suggested by Sir George Grey—a joint requisition that Ministers shall convene Parliament at an early date, instead of delaying the meeting until April. In England, where parties are clearly defined, Ministers experience no difficulty in determining whether the elections have gone for or against them, and it is not necessary to await any overt action by the dominant party to determine whether the members of Cabinet shall retain or vacate their seats.

The defeat of the Hon. Mr Hislop necessitates an immediate re-allotment of portfolios, and Ministers may resolve to carry out the complete reconstruction of the Cabinet, which has been in contemplation ever since Sir Harry Atkinson's illness incapacitated him for the leadership of the House. There are three probable successors to the present Premier—Mr Mitchelson (Acting-Premier), Sir John Hall, and Mr Bryce. Our own expectation is that conflicting claims will be merged in the appointment of Mr Bryce. Sir Harry Atkinson will succeed Sir Dillon Bell as AgentGeneral, and the onus of meeting the new Parliament will be cast upon an entirely reconstructed Government.