The Poverty Bay Herald. AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 857, 7 August 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald. AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1879.

Two candidates have announced their intention tp stand for Parliament, at the. coming elections. , Before t tomorrow there will probably be, a third — possibly a fourth. Now, then, is the time for action on the part of the electors. We are not altogether favorable to the American method of conducting contested elections generally ; but there is one very excellent plan adopted m cases which are analagous to our own ; and this plan we strongly recommend to the electors of Gisborne and Poverty Bay. The method is known as "Trying a Straw." There is, we shall say, by way of illustration, three candidates for a seat m the Legislature, where only one member can be returned, and where all three may be beaten by an jppdsition candidate living m some jther part of the State. " .The plan, ihen is for the electors, resident at ihe various centres of the electorate to

assemble, and then by their votes decide -which of the three candidates shall be returned. This having been ascertained v the two candidates m the minority retire from the contest, when the electors plump for the favorite as the only chance of returning a^ member for'some particular town, city, or district. In America, the ballot is employed. It is m fact, a plebiscite modified to suit a particular occasion. Now, if the Chairman or Clerks of all our local bodies were to organise and takes the votes of the people m the manner of an " informal" election, then the candidate who' has received the largest amount of support from the electors should look to be returned. If public meetings are called, they are, as a rule, largely attended by those who are not electors ; who are, m fact, not on any of the rolls, but who nevertheless, may be men equally interested, as to who shall be the re-pi-esentative of the district m which they reside. Still, as such men cannot influence an election through their non-eligibility to record votes, they should not interfere with a preliminary poll. There should be no mistake made m the coming elections. If all the Poverty Bay candidates go- to the ballot box they will be beaten by a Tauranga man, and we shall be no better off than we have been with Captain Morris. Indeed, we may be much worse served. For Captain Morris,- if he has done little good for the Bay, he certainly has done us no harm. He had the' interests of his more immediate constituents to look after 1 , and there is little doubt but what he has served them to some good purpose. Once a split m the Poverty Bay election camp, when all our chances will be lost. Whatever may be the method — whether by public meetings, by ballot, by show of hands, or by votes recorded — it is the duty of the electors to make choice of their man and then one and all to stand by him. The candidates will we presume lose no time m addressing their constituents, explaining their policy and answering all questions of a proper nature which may be put to them. Then, when the whole of the candidates m the field have been heard, and their claims urged, let one or other of the methods we have pointed out be adopted as the only safe course to be pursued.