THE CAVERSHAM ELECTION.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11154, 21 December 1901, Page 6

THE CAVERSHAM ELECTION.

We are not surprised.that the. Mintsterial' ''; journals are uncomfortable about the resultof the Caversham flection.. It chows a d*> •'„ cided turn of the tide so far as the Govern- . , ment are concerned. The position is ac-" <. curately summer! up by the "Otago Paily" Times." The Ministerial nominee, instead ,;■- ------o£ having the.eeat at hie mercy* as was'the. . ■ case in 1896 and 1899, could not secure •' ■. better place t>n the poll than third. Not. one-fourth of the total number of formal . votes that were recorded were registered *" in his favour. "Where Mr Morrison, ap- " pealing to tha electors for support on the; " same grounds as those on nchich Mr Hally.; %, "based his claims to election, secured 2307 '. "votes in 1896 and 2860 in 1899, Mr Hally - "could only secure 1120 in 1901. Whert -* " Mi Morrison, if he had' been spared, *p - " parently possessed a safe seat for as long ;,'; " as he chose to occupy it, Mr Hally, whs - " aspirell to ba his successor and who wafl "recommended to the favourable notice of - "the electors by the organisation under " the auspices of which Mr Morrison feet, "entered Parliament, was tlia lowest oil "the poll of ths three candidates between " whom tha contest really lay. Even if "Messrs Bedford, Warren,and Meikle, who "each forfeit their deposit, had not been in- ~ "the field,; and even if all the votes're- 1 .' " corded in thsir favour had gone to j " Hally, he would still Jiave b?en a de- ; "feated civndidate." M.r Sidey, nltliough declaring for the Government on this occar sion, won his seat in the teeth of a Ministerial opposition. The remarkable thing i* 1 . that Mr Earashaw, the out-and-out Opposition candidate, who laboured under the ./

. disadvantage of having been absent from the district for some years,and must nave estranged a good many supporters by his method of conducting the present contest, yet managed to come within 105 votes of winning the seat in what is regarded as a purely labour constituency. There could be no surer sign of the growing distrust of the Government and dissatisfaction with their methods.