STRENGTH OF PARTIES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXII, Issue 8246, 11 December 1911, Page 6

STRENGTH OF PARTIES

AN .INTERESTING PARALLEL.

THE ELECTIONS: OF 1890.

Tuesday last was the twenty-first anniversary of the New Zealand general elections, of 1890, which resulted in lire coming into power of the political par&y now in the ascendant and which is now asking the electors for a further extension of office. The general election of 1890 was an historic contest in more respects than one. It not only marked the commencement of the long term of office of the present administration, but it was also noteworthy from the fact that'it-was the 5 first general election in , New Zealand conducted on the basis of the one-man-one-vote principle. For the.first time in New Zealand's history there were a number of Labour candidates, and four of these were elected. The new House ww also the first elected under the provisions of an Act passed in 1887, wlr.o'i reduced the number of European met \- bers of the House from 91 to 70. The elections-ended, in the defeat of the last of the several Administrations which had, between. 1876 and •_ 1893 held office un.de/ the Premierships oi Sir Harry Atkinson and other leaders of his party. The term " Continuum Administration" was often applied to the party with which Sir Harry Ati-uii-son was associated, but the best darn; to this distinction has long, since passed to the present regime, with its Jo-ig record of nearly 21 years of office, under the leadership of Messrs Ballariee and Seddon and Sir Joseph Ward. The last Atkinson Government had come into power in 1887 on the defeat of the Stout-Vogel Government, wivch. after being defeated in the House, had made an unsuccessful appeal =to the country. The elections of 1890 left the Government in a minority. \n estimate of .the strength of parties placed the number of Ministerialists at 28. and that of the Opposition (ofwh^h Mr Ballance was leader) at 31, the remainder of the House being made up of " independents " and " doubtfuls.'.' Sir Harry Atkinson, who had bwn unable, owing to ill-li,ealth, to take his place in the House during the session of that year (the House having belled by the Hon. E. Mitchelson) vra* too ill to tako part in the election contest. .He was, nevertheless,, reelected for Egmont by a large majority. The Hon. T. W. Hislop,. Minister for Education, was defeated for Oamaru 'by Mr T. Y. Duncan. Mr Ballance only succeeded in retaining his seat at Wanganui by a majority of 23 votes, his opponent being Mr Gilbert Carson. As soon as the results of the elec.tion were made known a discussion arose as to whether the Government had been so decisively defeated that it should resign. Ministers, at first, seemed inclined to admit that they were defeated, but a few days later they took up the attitude that tbeV would probably obtain the support oi' some of the "'doubtfuls " and even of some of those who had been returned in opposition to them, it being argued that a number of the latter membe-3 would be just as hostile to any Mmi--. try led by Mr Ballance. The Government, however, resigned in the following month (January, 1891), and during the short session' of Parliament - that i was then held, Mr Ballance formed his Ministry.