POLITICAL SITUATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15834, 3 February 1915, Page 7

POLITICAL SITUATION.

DUNEDIN CENTRAL SEAT.

IMPORTANT BY-ELECTION.

STRENGTH OF PARTIES

The Dmiedin Central by-election, which has been rendered necessary by the resignation -i' Mr. C. K. Stathani, in consequence "'■ the circumstances connected with the magisterial recount, which placed him at, the t-'-p of the poll, will take place to- : nav. Or. probably no previous occasion in ] "\>« Zealand's history has a by election j been invest-xl with to much interest and ; jniport-inee. There are three petitions, asking that the recent elections be declared v. '■•' -"■ regard to North Island • rats -i.'h have yet to be heard, but apart '"" -m these—taking the present dit>- I tribt'.' .■■• <>! seatsthe decision which will >~- ar.".ved -it t«"»day by the electors of; Pur-'d'.n Central will decide whether tho j M-iss'v A.(ministration has a majority in ' the H<>r.se of R < 'preventatives or whether , the O.iverf.ment a.nd the combined Opposi- . tie* .in.) Lihour Parties will be equal in ] strength. The present state of parties is I a.s iuli >w« :— Seats. ('"•verrmiont .. ... ... 40 i and Labour ... 39 Undecided (Dunedin Central) 1 Total ' 80 When the election result for Dunedin Central wa.< tinst declared the figures were 'given as follows: — .1. W. Munro (Labour! ... 3799 C E St.it.haji] nlovernment) 3791 Informal ... ... ... '8 Majority for Mr. Monro ... 8 "When til? magisterial recount was held it was discovered that in the case of 116: voting papers the voter's number had bean written in error bv a poll clerk across the hack of the ballot paper, thus violating the gtci v of tho ballot. These votes were accordingly disallowed, thus, with a few other additions, swelling the number of: informal votes to 199. As the majority | of the 116 invalidated votes had been cast in favour of Mr. Munro—-the number hav- j 1115 been unofficially stated as 69 as ' against 47 for Mr. Stat ham—the result of j the recount was to place Mr. Stathani in the lead by a majority of 12 votes, the readjusted figures being announced as follows:— C E. Stathani (Government) 3744 J. W. Munro (Labour) ... 3732 Informal 199

Majority for Mr. Statham 12

Mr. Statham, shortly after the result of the recount was declared, resigned the seat, thus clearing the way for a. new eL-ction and disposing of the question of a petition from his opponent asking to have the election declared void, which had been mooted. Messrs. Statham and Munro were both renominated and there are no other candidates. Both parties have beer, working very hard and a very heavy jpoll may be expected to-day.

The three districts in which election pft-kions have been lodged are Hawke'r Bay. Tanmanmui and the Northern Maori scat. In the first and second cases the defeated Government candidates are petitioning against the return of the Opposition candidates. Dr. R. McNab having beer? alerted for Hawke'fi Bay and Mr. W. T. Jennings for Taumarunui. In the case of the Northern Maori district, the elected member, Tan Henare, was returned as a Government supporter and the petition has been lodged by Nau Paraone, Kawiti, the candidate who was second on the list and who sto:>d as an " Independent candidate.