A CLEAN SWEEP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12615, 18 November 1911, Page 5

A CLEAN SWEEP.

GOVERNMENT'S TRIUMPH IN

AUCKLAND PROVINCE

ONLY MESSRS MASSEY AND HERRIES LIKELY TO REMAIN. (Speoial to HeraH.) AUCKLAND, this day. In Auckland province* the nearer the approach to election day the more certain it becomes that the Government is going to make a clean sweep' of the Auckland province (states the Star). Mr W. F. Massey will go back as the representative of Franklin, arid Mr W. H. Herries is fairly, perhaps fairly, safe in Tauranga, but on present indications it seems safe to predict that the Opposition will lose four of" the six seats that it holds, and that the Government will be succesful in 15 out. of 17 seats in this district. The fight in Parnell has not aroused the excitement or the bitterness that the Opposition papers throughout the' Dominion so unanimously foretold. The Reform party talked loudly of what it would do if Sir John Findlay came north. Now that he has come they cannot find a man of their' 6't.vn party to take up the gauntlet, and after vainly searching the Umgth and breadth of the city {they "-■"were, to make" overtures to the Independent Liberal candidate. Mr J*. S. Dickson. This gentleman/ who first caUi.e* prominently be'fp-fe the public as the champion of ex-Captain Knyvett, was until recently president of the* Newmarket branch of the Liberal and Labor Federation;: '"" Wfren ; he 'announced his candidature two months ago he advertised himself as a Liberal and Labor candidate. Then Mr Moss, the Opposition candidate retired, and Mr Dickson cast in his lot -with the Opposition. As the Hon: Geo. .Fowlds - remarked in the. course of his" address at Mt. Eden, it goes to show hotv, little principle there is about' the Opposition party when they accept a. candidate 'who until three weeks ago was an avowed Liberal. However, no one else,' not even the Opposition organiser, Mr Martin, -vyould take up the cudgels against Sir John Jindlay. Already the .election is a i: foregone conclusion, and Sir John is having magnificent receptions in every part of the electorate, his meetings being models. Mr Massey Ijias threatened to come into the electorate*,' and speak in .support of Mr Dickson's' candidature. If he does come he is- assured of a particularly w r arm reception." In all the other city seats there is -a- certainty of the sitting /Government members being returned. In fact it is doubtful if ever a quieter general election has been fought in Auckland. This is possible partly due to. the present popularity of the Ward administration, and partly t^-the fact* th^t' where the Op-positionhM'put-candidates'into the field they ai_ not men. of sufficient ability or standing" tp be taken very Seriously. The Hon. Geo. Fowlds is assured of a thump-[;_^*"Vßppiß^;--fV'-.tv :^-t*j>."It *£"! freely that the member for Gr|By Lyn_i-.{Mr Fowlds) will go back to the^'Ward Ministry in January next, if its j-jersonneT; is sufficiently altered to permit of \his fcpnscientiously* doing so. , The mam interest,, in the north reaJl" centres in the fight which is going on- in "four seat*"?, Manukau. Eden, Waitemate, and Mktrsden. In Mariukau Mr Lang's* position is very shaky, -while in Waitemata Mr'-W. j. Napier; is putting up a magnificent fight,, and is almost certain to come' out on top. The ousting of Mr Jphn- Bollard.* from Eden by Mr W. J. Speight, an -old „ Parliamentarian, and a seasoned campaigner,' is looked on as practically a certainty. In Marsden Mr Mander is unable to do any campaigning owing to ill health, and it is quite on the cards .that. Mr E,._ C. ' Purdie, a most popular 'man ,; -and an' excellent speaker, who resigned, -his as headmaster of thfe Whangarei High School to enter the contest, will- win the seat for Liberalism. ■'••'- ; 'v '-- " C'. The retirement of Mr C: H. Clinkard from the . Tauranga contest leaves one Liberal in the"fie")d to face Mr Herries, and'he. R. King) is' making a great fight. Generally speaking the Opposition is fighting without heart, and as the Hon. Mr' Fowlds' publicly declared, it' seems likelv that after December next, the "Reform" pa rty will be known -no .more in the* Auckland -pmvirice. * • ■'