ELECTIONS, PAST AND PRESENT

Evening Star, Issue 17227, 17 December 1919, Page 4

ELECTIONS, PAST AND PRESENT

RETROSPECTIVE AND COMPARATIVE. The first General Elections for the New Zealand House of Representatives and the (Provincial Councils were held during 1855 and the beginning of 1854. The first session of the General Assembly was opened on May. 27, 1854. The seat' of Government was removed from Auckland to Wellington in February, 1865. The Ministries since the establishment of Responsible Government have been thus named:— ,

The shortest-lived of these (Ministries was that of Atkinson in 1884—six days; the longest was the Seddon Ministry, which lasted for 15 years, and l terminated by Mr Ssddon’s death in 1906. The 18th Parliament was dissolved in November, 1914, and the last General Election took placa the following month. The party results of that election were so close that on the assembling of Parliament a coalition was unavoidable, and thus we had the formation of the National Government,' which continued until September of this year. ’ Since the 1914 election there have been 13 by-elections, one in Otago, where Mr Statharn polled 4,033 and Mr Munro 3,926. In the live years’ interval a. new factor has come in, and it was the problem of to-day—the young vote—all the boys and girls who have come of age recently and to-day polled for the first time. Nobody could say how this vote would be cast. Guessing on the subject was one of the most interesting of the day’s topics. We also noted the increased 'general interest, as compared with past elections, in the purely political aspect of the contests, as distinguished from the personal aspect. Each side, every interest, has a definite political aim, and so far as could he judged from mixing with the electors it was not so much the man as the parly. Following on this reflection, and allied to it, is the fact, favorably commented on, that all parties nowadays arc candidly progressive. Only a few elections back the Reform Party were rightly or wrongly classified in one's mind as the Tory Party, whilst the S'eddonites wore Progressive liberals, and the Labor Party were looked upon as Radicals. In this year of grace the Reform programme is claimed to he, more Radical than the Radical programme of other days, and the policies of the other parties have correspondingly advancedl; and now that the heat of the argument is over it may be admitted that all. even the foremost Radicals, are, nominally at any rate, seeking the good of the country. In spite of the desire for electoral progress, New Zealand has gone back to the first-past-the-post system. Tire Second Ballot experiment was found to be no improvement, and wo are again in the position that minority candidates may be returned. Tho Australians are trying the preferential system. That also is an experiment. Tho result is in tho lap of the gods. One further comment: as to the inestimable boon the ballot has been. Today, as at all the General Elections that our young folk can remember, the polling went on peacefully and lawfully. The weakest of the electors found n way made for him to get to the poll and record it without any pressure from partisans. Compare this with the bad old times of open voting, when the man who approached the booth on the unpopular side risked bodilv assault. In this connection we deem it a fair thing to acknowledge the excellent work to-day of the returning officers and their staffs. Courtesy and fair arrangements are nowadays usual, but wo think That at this 1919 election the officials have gone beyond all previous achievements in the way of perfecting the electoral machinery by studying their duties beforehand, anti intelligently performing them without any fuss. Such ivas certainly the case in regal’d to the City electorates. The polling at the City booths seemed to be ratlier on the light‘side up to noon. The tine weather no doubt induced numbers to_ rely on plenty of time to do the duty leisurely later in the day. FINE WEATHER EVERYWHERE. Advices from different parts of tire Dominion report that the weather is that every available motor is being utilised for the conveyance of ■voters, and that heavy polls are anticipated. ANNOUNCING THE RESULTS. ' As is customary, we shall display the results of the polling nil over the Dominion from our hoarding in Crawford street to-night. Arrangements have also been completed for the posting of the licensing pods. Precision has been made whereby candidates will be enabled to address the public from the ‘Evening Star ’ building after the results of lhe°poltmrr are disclosed. “

L Bell-Sewell. 18. Grev. 2. Fox. 19. Hall. 3. Stafford. 20. Whittaker. 4. Fox. 21. Atkinson. 5. Domett. 22. Stout-Vogel. 6. Whittaker-Fox. 23. Atkinson. 7. Weld. 24. Stout-Vogel. 8. Stafford. 25. Atkinson. 9. Fox. 26. Ballance. 10. Stafford. 27. Seddon. 11. Waterhouse. 28. Hall-Jones. 12. Fox. 29. Ward. . 15. Vogel. 50. Mackenzie. 14. Pollen. 31. Massey. 15. Vogel. 32. National. 16. Atkinson. 3o. Massey. 17. Atkinson. •