HISLOP OR AITKEN ?

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 100, 29 April 1908, Page 5

HISLOP OR AITKEN ?

[EBOM OUR COIUIEBPONBENT.I

WELLINGTON, Tuesday. To-morrow is the fateful day for Messrs Hislop and Aitken, and there is bound to be the heaviest polling that Wellington has yet experienced at a Mayoral election. The friends or both candidates express themselves as confident of victory. Mr Hislop has nad a hard fight, but he is a courageous and skilful campaigner, and has pamea the attacks of Mr Fisher with great skill. All the same, there is an old saying that if you only throw plenty of mud some of it is sure to stick, and 1 am-afraid that not a few ratepayers believe what has been proved up to ■ the hilt to be untrue namely that Mr Hislop, through his nrm s investments in" the Sinking ..Blinds, has reaped a rich persona] P^ Ti*e fact .tco tllat "ti-e Mayor addressed a meeting of the tramway employees will g:> against him. and Mr Ait Ken will have, as on previous occasions a block vote from the various "Ire,/5 cburches, the Y.M.G.A. and similar bodies.

On the other hand Mr Hislop should get tho vast majority of the working classes. Ihe result is very open, but personally I fancy the odds are slightly m r?.vG-;ir of Mr Aitken. There are races on at Ti-ontham to-morrow, wmosi fact is more likely to injure Mr K;swo than Mr Aitken, for the latter s supporters do not usually patronise what is called "a gamblers' resort.' However, there is plenty of time to vote before the "gamblers" leave town. Citizens generally will be glad when the excitement is over for the newspapers have simply been crowded _ out during the last three weeks with denunciations and counterdenunciations.

That the election has its political side cannot be gainsaid. If Mr Aitken is defeated by a substantial majority his political mana will seriously suffer, and he would have but a poor show of success next December. His defeat would also be a bitter pill to swallow for Messrs Duthie and Fisher, and would encourage Mr Hislop to try conclusions with the latter at the forthcoming general election. Mr Fisher is very strong in his electorate, and personally I do not think that whatever be the result of to-morrow's election it would shake his strength very much. But it would to some extent, and it is said that a knowledge of this fact has been the chief motive power behind Mr Fisher's hard knocks at the present Mayor. As a sporting friend puts it—he wants to knock him out m the first round. As far as the ratepayers generally are concerned it seems to me that it does not matter much who wins, for goth are good business men. Mr Aitken may be a little slow and unprogressive, but he is largely endowed with Scots caution. Mr Hislop is alert, keen and vigorous m the public interest. Whoever wins the city ought to be well served