STATE OF PARTIES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLVIII, 17 December 1914, Page 2

STATE OF PARTIES

SURPRISE fN~HA.\VKE'S BAY. DR. M'NAB WINS THE SEAT. PARTIES EVEN. (United Press Association.j HASTINGS., Dec 16. ? The result of the recount for Hawke s Bay is that Dr McNab heads the poll. The returning: officer's official figures McNab (L.) 4225 Campbell (R.) • 4216 Majority for McNab ... 9 The announcement, was loudly cheered by Dr. McNab's supporters. .(The figures as announced.on the night of the .poll were Campbell 3727; McNab 3603.) A MAORI SEAT.

Rumours have been spread about and have received the dignity of print m an Opposition journal that the elected Maori member for the Northern Maori constituency, M'r Aau Henare, who has alwavs been understood to be a supporter of the Reform Party, and has been described invariably in the newspapers prior to the elections and since, in recording the progress results of the election as (RJ (Reform), is really an aah. rent to the political views of the Upposifioa. It has been said that his electors have desired him to follow in the footsteps of the late member Dr. 1 e who «at on the Opposition benches during his six years' i«ember- ! ship of Parliament. It is impossible from the information available in Wellington to dispose of these rumours one u-av or the other. The Prime Minister informed a "Post" representative yesterday that he knew Mr Tau Henare, and knew him as a man of honour, who would carry out his obligations a* sucn.

IN THE HOLLOW OF THE HAND."

Whatever may be the final "P*" there appears to be no doubt that the prophecy made by Mr A I* D. Fraser, a former member of the House of Representatives, is on the .way to coming home. The member for Napier., in advocating the abolition of the separate system Sf Maori representation, declared that some day the House would wake up and find that the Maori members held the fortunes of the country m the 'hollow ~f their hand. If the position were not so serious, the element of real humour in the following paragraph which recently appeared m the Auckland btai, be the better appreciated : "A story illustrative of the humours ot Maori elections comes from the far north." said the "Star." "A few months, ago the chiefs of the Ngapuhi and kindred tribes held a meeting at Otiria, in :-y, Bav >;f Islands country, for the purpose of' electing a candidate for the North em Maori seat in Parliament, in place ot I) r Te Rangihiroa . For two day they discussed the great question, debating the merits and demerits of the aspirants for political fame, and the £3OO a year. Meanwhile, through all this miglny valume of talk the women of the tribe sat •if the background listening, but refraining from speechmaking. At last their patience became, exhausted, and they quietly formed a 'komiti wahme, or women's" committee. They left the hall in a body .and returned presently to announce that none of the. proposed candidates met with t-heir approval, and that thev had decided to support Mr Tau Henare. This gentleman was sitting mildlv in* corner listening to the debate, totally unaware until then that he was the desired of the Ngapuhi ladies. He was not even a. candidate, but the 'komiti wahine' nominated him straight away. This unexpected display of feminine" rights staggered the voluble men folk, who adjourned the meeting in order to think the crisis out. The story goes that Mr Henare became the chosen, of the svahines because of his good looks and his vouth. and the ladies.admitted as much, 'jiut they are determined to have the tribal Adonis and' no other, and as a block vote of the ladies would probably carry the election, it .is extremely likely that the wise men of 'Ngapuhi will have to submit to the. superior strategy of their womenfolk and send Mr Henare to Parliament." , ,

ALL CARE TAKEN". In answer to enquiries on the points' raised bv Mr felatherwick, the Chief Electoral" Officer. (Mr James Hislop) informed a "Post"., reporter that everything had been carried out in accordance with the law, The"Expeditionary'ForcesVoting Act provides for'any unavoidable contingencies" such as the extraordinary circumstances of the case might entail." It was quite true that the scrutineers could not check the votes I 'to be counted. There was no way in" which they could ascertain, for instance, that members of the Force voting were entitled to vote in any particular electorate. All of the member of the Force .were given a vote, although some of .them were under 21 years of age,'and many of them-were not on the rolls for their districts. As against this, however, the poll was taken by trusted officers of the Department, and the greatest care was exercied to ensure that everything Was done in proper order. The Chief Electoral Officer added, in conclusion, that no irregularities had occurred in the handling of'.the soldiers' votes in the Wellington East election. He had carried out in their entirety the : provisions of the Expeditionary Forces Voting Act. ■ " The occasion of the inspection of the Maori Contingent of the Expeditionary Force in Auckland will doubtless afford leading politicians on both sides of the House an opportunity of getting closer in touch with the very interesting political situation in the Far North. Among those who have gone North' in the past few days are the Hon. James Allen, Minister of Defence, the Hon. Dr Pomare, Native Minister,, the Hon. A. T. Ngata, ex-Minister, and Sir Joseph Ward..

RUMOURS OF PETITIONS. Meanwhile there are rmnours of petitions and protests, most of them without foundation. For instance, there was a rumour abroad in Wellington yesterday that a petition was to be lodged against the return of Mr Fletcher for Wellington Central . Definite enquiries proved this ' to be absolutely baseless. The rumoured petition in the Wellington East electorate turned out to be something much milder, in the shape of a formal protest by Mr G. Blatherwick, one of Mr D. McLaren's scrutineers, against the manner in which the Expeditionary Force ballot paper were handled. The text of the letter addressed to the Returning Officer (Mr Cording}, is a follows : "Dear Sir, —With reference to the Expeditionary Forces' votes cast in connection with the Wellington East election, I desire to enter my protest in regard to the manner in which such votes were treated. "The grounds of my objection are that, no means of checking such votes were supplied to you for submission to th« scrutineers. Xo return was given by the electoral officer of the actual number of votes cast, and no marked copy of a roll was presented, by which the en the ballot papers' could be checked. I further deem it unsatisfactory that the packages of votes in sealed envelopes was not also sealed when you received it. There. is apparently no information given to you, as. the officer in charge of " this

election, indicating the .-number bf ballot papers supplied to the electoral- officers who took the votes, how many of these were used, and those remaining. It may be. that these matters have been dealt with in some manner" of which I' have no knowledge, but as a scrutineer T consider that the full right of scrutiny is not allowed unless all the above referred to information is supplied. (Signed) C. Platherwick. scrutineer."' MR PEARCE IX FOR PATEA. Official returns are coming in slowly, but steadily, and in no case has there been anv change in the position, except at Wellington East, where it arose through a mistake in the allotment of bundles, and where. Dr. Newman had really an initial victory. Patea was reckoned with Wellington East, Dunedm Central. Nelson, and Wairarapa among the. doubtful seats where the absentee vote might upset the first count, but the official result received by the Chief Electoral Officer yesterday shows no change. Mr G. V. Pearce holds the seat bv a majority of HB. or more than 'he was .originally'allotted (104). The exact figures are : C. V." Pearce (R.J 3388 VY. Morrison (L.J 3270 Majority for Pearce 118 The only other seat deemed at all doubtful is Taumarunui. where Mr Jennings has a lead over the retiring Reform member, Mr C. K. Wilson, by 152. with about 300 absentee votes to count. The Returning Officer of the, Taumarunui electorate is ill, and Mr. Hcdgkins. of the Electoral Department, Returning Officer for Wellington Central, has gone up to get the. count through. The result may be expected to-night, but any change iii the position is exeeedingj ly improbable.