TELEGRAMS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 27, 1 August 1911, Page 3

TELEGRAMS.

THE BY-ELECTION.

CANDIDATES FOR CHRISTCHURCH NORTH. i SECOND .BALLOT PROBABLE. [*t IBtKfIaAPH— 32ECIAL TO TttS POST.] CHRISTCHURCH. This Day. The contest in the Chri6tchurch North by-election promises to be interesting. Mr. L. M. Isitt will stand as the Prohibition Party's nominee, and it looks as though he would" win. the seat fairly easily with the assistance of what may be called the sentimental vote. Mr. Isitt ie a fine speaker on his own particular subject, a-a most New Zealand people know, but his position in general politics is not clearly defined, and there is flome ground for a belief that he has not studied such matters as land and labour laws at all keenly. He might get into serious difficulties under the attack_ of well-informed hecklers. The Opposition will nominate Mr. J. D. Hall, who is undertaking a ta«k of peculiar difficulty. He can hardly expect to achieve any marked success at this poll, I whatever he* might do later in the year. ! Labour delegates failed to reach an agreement ac lo^their attitude at a* meeting last night, one section wishing to support Mr. Isitt and another demanding a Labour nomination. Dr. Thacker, whose confidence ie unshaken by defeat, will stand as a supporter of the Government, and Mr. C. M. Gray, the Minis-terialist-cum-Independene. who was defeated by the late Mr. Taylor in 1908, is mentioned as being willing to take the platform on small provocation. If the Government is wise "it will not pin its colours to anyone if not to Mr. Isitt. , To accept Mr. Gray, Dr. Thacker, or anyone else would be to "invite a-Prohibition-Conservative coalition that would spell a rather serious reverse to the Ministerial Party, but it is obvious that the situation ie brimful of possibilities. A second ballot would seem to be something more than a probability.