The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, SEPT. 25, 1909. THE RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14015, 25 September 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, SEPT. 25, 1909. THE RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

' ' ; ' 'tS ■? The second ballot, for election resulted in the retui&c of the Government' candidate, afe* seemed . more than likely, after tho numbers were up..for the first ba110t,..-showing-., a preponderance, of votes distributed > among Ministerial supporters. Rongitikei, moreover, hiis long been- Represented by, a Ministerialist,,- and the electorate has been given ■no particular reason for changing its political colour. It is largely a. district ■of .sawmills arid .bush dairies,. and' lias had the North Island trunk railway constructed through it by the, present - Government, giving opportunity 'for, • prosperity .to many , classes of settlers, old and new. Most-people are willing to accept what comes in; their , way in public affairs, so long as they nro personally succeeding, and it ,is evident from the reports regarding tho contest, in Wellington', papers, tliati the election lias largely turned' upon the personal popularity of the. candidates. Mr Hutchison's retirement from ■ tho. contest- in favour of - a less experienced, less vigorous, and probably le&si capable politician, is an evidence of this; and so also is the fact that tho. leader of the Opposition on the ono side, and no less than threo - Cabineti Ministers on the other, addressed.-the, electors, for the purpose, it is.toi hoi assumed, of persuading them to iaks

a political view of a political duty. Mr Hutchison assisted Mr Hoekly, but the defeated Ministerialists, and also the defeated Independent, assisted Mr Smith, and these influences

may be taken to cancel each other. But three Ministers to one Opposition

( leader was big odds. Bye-elections l in New Zealand are not of so much k importance as indices of change in public opinion as they are esteemed [ in the Old Country, where ParliaI ments are of longer duration. And \ in this, case so short a time has elapsed 1 since the general election, that no ' material change of opinion has had

time to develop,—at all events in a

: country constituency. Had the eleci; tion taken place in one of the city electorates, a great deal more importance would have attached to it, because in the cities there has occurred something to affect- the political i opinion of a large number of voters, I in the distress caused by insufficiency of employment during the winter and the helplessness of the Government i in the face of it, and in the carrying out of the drastic retrenchment scheme, which has affected many voters and their friends. We are not saying that these things shonld affect an election; but they certainly would 1 do so. The only hint of general interest that we have met with in connection with the late election is that Mr i Smith, the victor,' is strongly in favour of giving Crown leaseholders the option of the freehold, and that this * has not militated against his acceptance by the Ministry as a Ministerial' I .sandidaie. It wonld lie attaching ' too much importance io this fact though,.to infer that the Ministry is weakening on the subject of granting the freehold, though one of these has said that he, personally, did not attach much importance to tenures, so long as the land was profitably occu- \ pied, which, of course, is the rational I attitude to take-,tip on the subject.