THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15259, 22 December 1919, Page 4

THE COLONIST.

rise of Liberalism in the early 'nineties tne Conservatives gained an overwhelming victory. They captured a number of Liberal seats, and retained practically all they previously held, and are returned to power with a substantial majority over the comlbined total of the other parties. Lafbour increased its representation, but only to a small extent compared with its expectations. The estimated strength of the parties in the new House of Representatives is as follows:—

In a few oases, however, there is still a possibility of changes, the margin being so narrow that the result may be altered! by the absentee votes, of which, owing to the proximity of the elections to the holidays, there was an unusually large number. The Nelson seat fell Mr H. Atmoro (Liberal-Labour), who was unseated by Mr T. A. H. Field (Reform) in 1914. Mr Field in turn has been dispossessed, Mr Atmore's majority being 520. There is no change in the Motueka and Wnirau electorates, where Messrs R. P. Hudson (Reform) and R. McCalhun (Liberal) were respectively re-elected.

Reform and Independent

Reform Liberals Official Labour ... .. Independent Labour Independents

The General Election.

Notable Liberal Defeats.

The outstanding surprise of the elections, apart from the sweeping character of the Ministerialists.' victory, was the defeat of Sir Joseph Ward in Awarua by Ms old-time opponent, Mr. J. R. Hamilton. Although in previous elections the Liberal leader has had to fignt formidable contests, few were prepared for his defeat, which robs the political life of the Dominion of its greatest personality. Already a member of the party has offered to retire in order to enable Sir Joseph to reenter Parliament, but lie ha.s intimated his intention to remain outside the political arena. Other prominent memtors of the Liberal Party who have shared their leader's fate are three exMinisters, the Hons. Sir James Carroll, G. W. Russell, and D. Buddo, and Messrs J. Anstey and W. J. Dickie. The Hon. A. M. Myers narrowly escaped defeat in Auckland East, but he now appears to be secure. The new Leader of the Liberal Party will projbably bo the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald.

Other Changes.

The most striking loss suffored by the Reformers was the defeat of the Hon. J. B. Hine, one of the recent additions to the Cabinet, in the' Stratford electorate, which ho had represented since 1908. Sir James Allen won by a very narrow margin in Bruce. The Labour Party has lost Mr Semple, who was defeated by an overwhelming majority in Wellington South by Colonel Mitchell, a returned soldier, standing as an Independent. All the other sitting members of that party were re-elected.

The Cabinet.

Mr Massey will have to reconstruct his Cabinet, and appoint two and possibly three new Ministers.. Mr Hine's place is to be filled, and in addition Sir William Fraser, who did not sock reelection, is relinquishing his portfolios, and has been called to the

Legislative Council. The new appointments will probably not be announced until after the New Year holidays.

The Licensing Referendum.

Simultaneously with the general election, a. referendum was taken on the liquor question, three issues being submitted this year to the national vote, namely, National Continuance, State Control, and National Prohibition. The last-mentioned issue attracted an unexpectedly heavy vote in view of the result of the April referendum, and 't is possible that it may win the day. It is at present showing a minority of 1526 votes, but there are several thousands of absentee and seamen's votes to be included. On the present showing the voting on the three issues, apart from absentee, soldiers and seamen's votes, is as follows: —

National Continuance 231,258 State Control 30,477 National Prohibition 260,434

Including the soldiers' votes available, National Prohibition is at present 1526 votes short of the absolute majority of the votes recorded which is required to carry it.

In his address before the Stoke Fruitgrowers' Association on Friday, on his recent visit to America, Air JK. F. bt. John said that the Hayour of New Zealand apples was considered by Americans to be superior to that of their own fruit.

The general election of members of the House of Representatives after a lapse of five years, took place on Wednesday last. It was preceded by the usual campaign, which, in vi&w of the novelty and gravity of many of the issues involved, took on new features of interest. The three partieß in the contest, Reformers, Liberals, and Labourites, exerted every effort to further the interests of their respective candidates, and in some electorates the rivalry attained almost unprecedented keenness and warmth. Except, however, for the deplorable tactics of. a section of the supporters of extreme Labour in denying freedom of speech to tho candidates of the other parties, the campaign wag fought in an excellent spirit of fairness. Everyone was prt*pared for important changes in the composition of the new Parliament, but few for the changes that have occurred, and the result illustrates the futility of the accepted means of estimating the feeling of the constituencies- The Reformers and the Liberals, who were represented in nearly equal strength in the last Parliament, went to the polls ■with, high hopes of carrying their respective standards to victory. Labour, which put up candidates in the majority of the electorates, professed confidence. Victory went to the Reformers in a. measure that probably surprised them as greatly as it did others. For the first time since the

At the Hainpdeu Street School the annual examination for the G. F. Sunley Memorial Prizes resulted as follows:— Girls • Ina Tiller, with Grace Dunn next Li order of merit. Boys: Roy ileslop, with Gordon Irwin nest.

Mr James Ridley, an employee of the Government Printing Oiiice, residing at Lidcombe, who was spending his holidays at Pelican Island, i\.;<.e.eay River, iourteen miles %clow Kt.in ; sey (New bouth Wales) was attackea oy a shark while la1 lag liii car'-.' muriwng swim. 'i'hc shark cai^ht Ridley % the calf of the ie«- and lium by the foot. Ridley fought wft'h trie monster for some time, and ultimately managed to reach the shore. The flesh* was tern from ti:o bone or x-ae log. On reaching tiio shore, iudley had to climb ui> a steep embankment, where hd remained for liaif-an-hcur, calling for help When discovered he was in a critical state, owing to hemorrhage and shock. He was at enco conveyed to the Kcmpsey District Hospital. His condition was regarded as serious.

To our Customers and all peopte! Most heartily do we wish you the Reason's greetings. Our year's work really consists in getting ready and preparing for ■ a happy Christmas tide for everybody. ' Shop early. Shop in the daytime. Don't rely on Christmas Eve. Because solely of the .prevalence of .shoplifting and. contemptible Christmas : pilfering so noticeable last year, this year entry will be carefully regulated. -Only a'givfen number:at both/shops get. in r at one time. Come esrlyU-^'Novelties.' 5*

The following steamers were expected to be within wireless range of Wellington yesterday r—-Mohowai, Goraia, Moana, Iris; and Ap&Uow.

The death occurred at the Hospital on Saturday night of the old man Chat ies Andersen, who was badly burn-nl about the legs in a fire which occurred in the house in which he resided at Port Nelson last Saturday week. An inquest; will be held this afternoon.

The Pacific Cable Board has sent out the following notice:—"Owing to extra traffic being handled, due to interruption of main Eastern cable route, work is suffering considerable delay. Ordinary messages to United Kingdom, two days' delay; ordinary from United Kingdom, two days'. Deferred traffic, 12h days' delay. * American traffic also heavily delayed. There is littlo prospect of handling Christmas social traffic without serious delay, and the public are urged to confine messages to urgent business."

The 12th (Nelsonl and Alarlborough) Regiment Band ; which is now 35 strong, has, as previously stated, entered for tho A Grade band contest which is to be held at Dunedin during the first week in March next. The band have received copies of the two selections and march, and have settled down to solid practice. The band will play in the city streets on Christinas JUve, and will visit their numerous friends and supporters on Christmas Day, playing enrols; and on Christmaß night the band will give r. sacred concert in the Botanical Reserve. The band appeal to the public for their assistance to enable the band to attend the contest, and thus improve their musical standard by competing with the crack bands of the Dominion, xnc band have always been ready to turn out and play at patriotic and public functions, and it is hoped that their appeal will be generously responded to.

In the Juvenile Court at Palmerston North a boy, 13 of age, was ordered to receive six strokes of the birch and was committed to the Nelson

Training Farm for theft from 12 places that he broke into. The modus operandi of the boy was to break a glass door, get access to the lock, and enter the premises. The lad's arrest in 'business premises was the sequel to a succession of nightly occurrences.

Casey of lead poisoning amongst animals are coming to light in the Tiuiaru district, and they are invariably fatal. People in the country are ad- | vised to exercise care in the disposal of 'old linoleum, whish contains a great amount of lead, or of old paint tins, as they contain rank poison, and have been responsible for the death of many cattlo locally. I Informative remarks on the subject of the shortage.*of gold were made by Air L. It. Partridge at^a recent meeting of the Wellington Industrial Association. He stressed the point that, although New Zealand was producing more gold , than is required in the country, sufficient was not available for commercial ' purposes. That, he considered, was due to the fact that the mining companies were getting more lor their gold outsido of New Zealand, and if the jewellers required it they would have to pay the 'price demanded. Most of the jewellers ; were paying 22s for. the sovereign. The chairman (Mr H. Mainland): "ihe I 1 Chinamen will be coming to light." Air 'Partridge: "In India they are paying as high as 31s, a&d I know of an en- ■ gineer who bought sovereigns at Fort I Said at 23s and made a proiit of £50 on 1 what.he bought, and which he had taken "to India and sold- : for. 31s each. India 1 has always been a great sink for gold," 1 lie added. "They bury it." No won- > der, he commented* that sovereigns had • become scarce. He expressed the belief ' fliat the-various countries would i\ the I near future take steps to increase the '. standard value of gold; and after the 1 i elections it was intended to approach -1 the Government with a view to securing 1 an adequate gold supply for commercial ' purposes. Some idea of the Rev. Howard Elliott's activities in the south may bo

leathered from the following extract from a message which he sent from Inyercargill: —"Referring to privileges enjoyed by "Roma-mats, Sir J. Allen stated that Roman Catholics did not enjoy any privileges that were not available to' Protestants. Sir James mentioned rating of school properties. I challenge Sir James Allen to name a single Romanist school in New Zealand that pays rates, or a single Protestant school that does not pay rates. Either Sir James Allen does not know the facts, or ho is mis-stating them. His justification and approval of the censorship of Protestant literature, such as the. works of Dr. Alexander Robertson, will reveal to Presbyterians the attitude of fenJames Allen to things Protestant, sinco Dr Robertson is one of tho most widely known and honoured Presbyterian ministers in Europe, and received tho thanks of the King and Prime Minister of Italy for the book which our Government censored. It is satisfactory to know that the meeting at Milton took a very clear attitude; to Sir James Allen, and that was not friendly."

It is said that the defendant in a recent action in one of the courts is likely to pay dearly for an admission ho made in his evidence. He said that he was a bookmaker, and that his income was £4000 a, year. The soquel is that he has received *a demand from the Income Tax Commissioner for £753 tax.

Between 20 and 30 women busily engaged in shelling peas attracted attention at Covent Garden, London, recently They were mainly elderly women, and it is" stated they can earn from 14s to J6s a day, starting work at 5 o'clock in the morning and finishing about I o'clock in the afternoon. They are paid 3Jd a quart

In connection with the sudden death at Christchurch of Mrs ("General") Mite, the father of the deceaßed said at the inquest that she was walking along High street, when, all at once, she collapsed. As far as he knew she had not complame>l of ill-health lately. She was 40 years of age, and a widow. Clara Thompson said that she and deceased were at an ice-cream shop. Deceased complained of feeling dizzy, and said she had ielt like that before, but not so badly. Vn leaving they walked along the street and deceased complained of feeling ill. bne died shortly afterwards.

Mrs. Mumbles desires ua to state that she intended to comment on the •'War Memorial," the "Beef Trust," "The Elections," and the providing of "Cold Storage" at the Port so that apples will always bo Bold at aboui a Bniihng a pound. At the present timo Mrs. Mumbles considers it oi: paramount importance that the public should inr spect the immense stock of-furniture and Household Goods at Lock's Emporium, where there is everything to equip the ' homo. Hero you see the most; up-to-dato £oods at the lowest prices (some less than wholesale). You will be delighted with the beautiful Chesterfields, Divan and other Chairs, Hall Stands; Sideboards, Couches, Carpets, Rugs, Sheetings—as well as lovely patterns in Linoleums and Congoleums. Lock's have a lot of things ■suitable -for presents—Slower Bowls, Sabv Carriages, -Screens, etc., and everything 'hi being Bold at bedrock -prices. Don't misß ' Lock's Big Frc% Show, and save money.

Sensitive parents who inform their •offspring during chastisement that? it hurts them much more than tho recipient are now provided by an Americau engineer with an opportunity of mitigating their Bufferings. An "electric spanker" is being shown at an olec- « trie power exhibition in the Grand t^ncral Palace, New York. • ho'mechanism of the "spanker" consists of a erusll motor, a connecting rod about 4 in long, a-nd an applicator the size of an average parental palm. Demonstrations are given to any interested person, and the parent who* wishes to gauge accurately the degree of pain he is ..niUcting can, it is said, himself undergo a prehiauwry spanking.

Nowadays tho glittering golden sovereign has passed almost entirely out of circulation in Australia, although occasionally a person is to be found carefully treasuring up one or more of these coins in an inner pocket of his wallet <>a\s the Melbourne "Age.")- But by visiting the strongrooms of the Federal Treasury it is ver;> easy to discover what has become of all the- sovereigns and halt-sovereigns which in the days of affluence, before tho war cloud burst, used to clink so merrily in one's pocket. There they lie in bags, piled heap upon heap, their lustre hidden from the light of day. By degrees the coins which make* up these sacks that are filled to the bri.-r. with gold hare been gradually withdrawn, from circulation, in order to build up si i;old reserve against the Com-numv.-cstth note issue. At the on'd of November the value of the gold coin held by the Treasury was £23,632,177 10s, renrosenting 43.25 per cent, of the .lotos in circulation, while gold bullion amounting to £175,383 was also held by tue TrtP.sury, increasing the gold percentage to 43.57 per cent. J.he actual number of notes in circulation at the end c< last month was 20,013,305, including 10,792,1% £1 notes and 4,204,142 halfsovereign notes. Nearly half the total value of +.be note issue, which at the end of last month amounted to £54,643,----232 is represented by £1000 notes, of which there are 23,387 in circulation.