POLITICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6270, 21 December 1881, Page 4

POLITICAL NOTES.

Th* Dnnedin Herald, referring to the victories of the Opposition candidates in Dunedin and neighbourhood, says: —"The Government should now be able to read the writing on the will—Meve Mens Tekzl TTphaesik !" The Dunedin Herald, accuses Mr. Dick, the Colonial Secretary of the "pure moral Administration," of being the first to violate the Corrupt Practices Act by employing carriages to bring up voters to the poll. A Southern paper thus commences its leading article on the morning of the 9th : — "Eire this evening's sun his set the country will have declared by the voice of the people, whether it shall be allowed to progress as it lus done under the management of the present Ministry, or whether it shall return to an even worse state of depression it suffered under the Grey Administration." The Timaru Herald, speaking of the return of Mr. H. Hirst for Wallace, says :— "Mr. Hirst is very popular in the House, and on occasions has rendered valuable service as an extra Whip. He is commonly known as "Irst with a Hi,' to distinguish kim from ' 'Urst with a U,' that being the manner in which a certain stentorian member from the West Coast invariably called out the names of Mr. Hirst and Mr. Hnrst respectively when acting as Teller in a division. As all three of these members have now been re-elected, * Irst with a Hi' will no doubt ba a household word in the new Parliament, as it was in the last." The Hawke's Bay Herald, in an article on Mr. Ormond's defeat, says :—" The cause of Mr. Ormond's defeat cannot be closely analysed, but two are very prominent. The first is the state of the electoral roll. A number of qualified electors—some of them landowners known throughout the province —on arriving at the booths, found that their names had been removed from the rolls for tome unaccountable reason. The other patent reason is the apathy exhibited by some -who should, from their position and education, have been the foremost in polling. Many of these will to-day bitterly regret their abstention from voting. They made too sure that Mr. Ormond was safe; they had come to look upon him as a sort of life-member, whose position was unassailable, and they laughed at the warnings given to them." One Canterbury paper gives the result of the elections, so far as parties are concerned, •a follow : 47 Ministerialists, 35 Oppositkuiialj, ana 9 Independents. Another journal in the same provincial district gives it as 35 Ministerialists, 38 Oppositionists, and 18 Independents.

The Oamarn Mail, Mr. George Jones, jun.'s, paper deals thus with the election for Auckland East:—"The narrow majority by which Sir George Grey secured a seat in Parliament indicates forcibly what can be accomplished by money and chicanery. His opponent (Mr. J. M. Clark) is a large merchant, and has in his meshe3 the bulk of the BOft good* tradesmen of Auckland. He also wears a good coat, and speaks tolerable English. This combination of qualities is sufficient, in the estimation of some people, to qualify a man to a seat in the House of Representatives. If the names of those who voted for Mr. Clark and others of his stamp throughout the colony could be secured, it would be found that his supporters consisted of tradesmen who conscientiously believed that it was their duty to sink the colony's good, so that they might requite favours past and to come; of a class who have been specially "benefitted by the present Ministry at the expense of the colony ; and of a large proportion of misguided and unprincipled nondescripts who can be swayed in any direction by the influential."

The New Zealand Times says : "As the incidents of the recent elections throughout the colony are narrated in the public prints, the conviction becomes, day by day, more certainly assured, that the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act will prove of little practical use, except as an instrument of retaliation or revenge in the hands of disappointed candidates. The penal clauses of the Act have proved no obstacle to the ordinary customs and surrounding circumstances of elections, against which the promoters of the Bill, on its introduction in the House, so vigorously and virtuously declaimed,"

An Oamaru paper has the following:—"ln one of the three electoral districts, in which Oamaru has a substantial interest, a candidate was asked if he wonld be in favour of introducing the cldture into the House ? This was a puzzler. It was evident the candidate was perfectly ignorant of the meaning of the word, or of what the question implied. Accordingly, he scratched his head cogitatively, wondering no doubt whether it referred to the cat-'o-nine-tails or a new churn. He wa3 not relieved of his perplexity till the broad grins on the faces of his audience told him that they were thoughtfully impressed with the fact that he knew nothing about it, and they charitably let the matter drop."

After the result of the election for Oamaru was made known the successful candidate, who endeavoured to address the electors, wa3 so liberally bespattered that he had to beat a hasty retreat. There was no ill-nature, however, displayed/ in Mr. Shrimski's floury baptism; but during his retreat—an eyewitness informs us—he became detached from his bell-topper, and emerged on Humber-street in a dilapidated condition.