LAST THURSDAY’S VOTE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7980, 11 December 1911, Page 4

LAST THURSDAY’S VOTE

Nearly sixty-four per cent, of the voters throughout Now Zealand last Thursdhy declared against tho Conservatives. .Examination of tho figures shows plainly that the country remains/true to Liberalism, and the second ballots this week will, wo feel confident, emphasise the fact. The closer the results are analysed the olcaier it becomes that tho constituencies will not have Mr Massey’s party at any price, the central feature being that the Liberalism under which wo have advanced, socially and materially, in the last two decades seems to have assumed a deeper hue. This is not at all surprising to any intelligent student of politics. The disappearance of tho Crown lands, tho monopoly of millions of acres by a handful of people, and the determination of the. Conservatives (natural, of course, to Conservatives) to buttress the monopolists oven to the sacrifice of the national endowments, have stirred a considerable section of the community very deeply. Hence the demand for better distribution of land finds expression in an expanded Labour vote. The aggregate voting nevertheless places the' Government ahead by a substantial majority and the Opposition in a hopeless minority, At this election there waa no contest for the Gisborne seat, the Conservatives having failed to secure a candidate bold enough to give battle to Sir James Carroll, notwithstanding their ceaseless sniping at his native land policy and administration. In the table given below we have taken tho liberty, for tho purposes of a faithful comparison, to uso the figures of the 1008 election for that seat, adding them to the votes actually cast last Thursday The votes recorded in favour «f the different parties at the first ballots of IDOB and, 1911 were as oinder:

408,326. 478,385 A simple calculation shows that tho Opposition whoso leader says these figures are “very satisfactory/” indicating that the electors are "turning to tho men . . . on the Opposition side of fcho House”—actually received'little more than 36 per cent, of the people’s votes! Tho weakening of the aggregate Liberal vote is hardly more than nominal, since the principal advance is mado by parties ultra-Liberal—parties that could hot, under any conceivable circumstances, assist Mr Massey in any proposal ho could submit concerning the one great question that is undoubtedly going to divide Parliament. Tho Liberal vote exceeds, the Conservative total by 50,958 votes, while the Liberal and Labour total is greater than that of the Opposition by 112,900 votes. Mr Massey must be easy to please if he can honestly regard tho situation as “very satisfactory." The second ballots, as we have said, will prove that the country is not able to trust Conservatives with its affairs. On last Thursday’s voting the Opposition is entitled to twenty-seven seats, the Government to thirty-nine. Labour to eight, and Independents to two. We very much regret that; our electoral machinery does not provide for scientific representation of the opinion of the constituencies, as it certainly should, and could easily he made to do. No doubt this reform will'come. In the meantime it is clear that tho Opposition party holds favour with very little more than one-third of tho political feeling throughout New, Zealand, and, even under our i imperfect system, it seems likely that the final test will, just about produce that measure of representation.

1 1908. 1911, 230,074, 230,606 Opposition 126, 14,651 173,648 56,002 Independent 33,580 l»roliibiuonlBts 1,690