POLITICAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2672, 31 May 1905, Page 32

POLITICAL NEWS.

Mr John A. Macpherson, of Ngapara., has been selected as th"c Government candidate for Mount Ida at the forthcoming general election. This is tlie decision (wires our Naseby correspondent) that was come to at a private held in Naseby. Mr Macpherson, who has been a farmer in the Ngapara district for the last 18 years, opposed the Hon. T. Y. Duncan at the last general election. Mr Robert Alcorn, of Ashburton, who has been invited to contest that electorate at the next election as an Independent Liberal, will not decide definitely until after his return from Rotorua, where he has gone on a short holiday. Mr C. J. Parr received a requisition to stand for Auckland West. It was signed by 3005 electors, a majority of those on the roll. Mr Parr said he would stand as a straight-out Oppositionist. Much enthusiasm was shown by the meeting. The Ashburton Mail states that Mr W. S. Maslin, Mayor of Geraldine, is trying to ascertain what chance he has of being returned for the Ashburton seat should he be a candidate at the next election. Mr Maslin was member for Rangitata in the 1893-96 Parliament, and is an anti-Sed-cLonite and a. Prohibitionist A private cable received from Mr J. H. Witheford, who is now in London, states that he will contest the Auckland City Central seat at the Parliamentary elections next November. The Palmerston Times understands that Mr E. H. Clark, Mayor of PaJmerston, will contest the Waikouaiti seat in the Liberal interest. The Te Aroha News reports that the> Rev. T. A. Walls, M.A., Presbyterian minister of that town, has received a call to Gore, and will leave for his new sphere at the end of the present month. Mt F. T. Poole, ex-Mayor of K»itangata, is being urged to contest the Bruce seat in the Liberal interest. Mt A. M'Lachlan, of Otswira, son of the member for Ashburton, is a. possible candidate for Wakatipn in. the Liberal-Prohibition interest.