The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1896. THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 237, 11 December 1896, Page 2

The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1896. THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

Opinion is very divided as to the position of parties in the Parliament just elected, and the Government majority is stated to range from eight to fourteen. This latter number is given in the New Zealand Times as the estimate of the Premier, and that journal works itself into a high fever over such a splendid result. It may be remarked, however, that on the day proceeding the election it gave a forecast of the expected result of 50 to 20 or a majority for the Government of 30. It is very gratifying to find that the boasted majority of 80 is now admitted by the Premier to have dwindled to 14. In order to make up the 14 he has to count all those who stood on the Independent and Prohibition ticket, so that at the best it is a very mixed team. The Premier claims his party is strengthened, as in the last Parliament lie could only count on a majority of 8. If this were in accordance with fact, no doubt he would be leading as strong a party as he had previously, but his statement will not stand the test of analysis. On the 7th August a trial of strength in the shape of a no confidence motion took place, which we pointed out at the time was merely for the purpose of eai marking the members, and that resulted in a majority of 22, forty four voting for the Government and twenty two for the Opposition. A no-confi-dence motion is the true test of how many supporters a Government can rely on, and in that instance a number were proved supporters of the Government yvho had previously condemned one or more of the Government measures iu no measured terms, but when the crucial test came the Government found they could rely on a majority of 22. How does that tally with the Premier’s statement, that they could only rely on a majority of 8. It will be remembered iu 1890 that Sir Harry Atkinson claimed to have a majority after the election, whilst Mr Ballauce was equally positive that the then Opposition could claim a majority, and when it came to a vote it was found that Mr Ballauce was right. Now Mr Seddon claims a majority of 14, but he must wait uniil the new men have an opportunity of voting before the public can ascertain what the majority is. As far as may be judged'by the party fight the Opposition have lost six seals ; one in Auckland, where Holland replaces Button ; two in Wellington,' Hutcheson and Fisher replacing Bell and Duthio; Wellington suburbs, whore Wiiford replaces Dr Newman ; Otaki, where Field replaces J. G. Wilson, and Egmont, where Symea replaces McGuire. The Government have also secured two of the three new seats in the North Island—Manawatu, Stevens, and Pahiatua, O’Meara. On the other hand the Government have lost 16 seats, viz,, Kaiapoi, Moore replacing Buddo ; Napier, McLean replacing Oarnell ; Christchurch, Taylor replacing Collins ; Waipawa, Hunter replacing Hall; Franklin, Massey replacing Harris ; Dunedin, Scobie McKenzie and Fish replacing W. Hutchison and Pinkerton ; Bay of Plenty. Herriea replacing W. Kelly ; Wallace, Gilfedder replacing Macintosh; Ashburton, Wright replacing McLachlan ; Mataura, Richardson replacing McNab; Riccarton, Rolleston replacing G. W. Russell ; Selwyn, Wason replacing Saunders : New Plymouth, Brown replacing Smith ; Wanganui, Carson replacing Willis; Rangitikei, Lethbridge replacing Stevens; and tbe Opposition have secured one of the new seats viz., Hawera, McGuire. This gives a net gain to tbe Opposition of ten members, none of whom we think the Premier, in his most sanguine moments, -would expect to be supporters of his, and if his statement is true that he could only rely on a majority of eight before, we do not perceive a very rosy time in store for him during the coming session. It must be ggdl and wormwood to him to find that after all he professes to have done for the towns to find Dunedin returning two Opposition members, and that in Christchurch, the home of Liberalism and Socialism in New Zealand, he could not succeed in getting one Government supporter returned, the three nominees of the Liberal Association and the Govern-

ment all having failed to secure a place when the numbers went up. There is one pleasing feature about the result, and that is that nearly every one of the shoddy amateur politicians have been relegated to oblivion, showing that the electors are at last waking up to a sense of their responsibilities.