The Star. FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1911. THE BY-ELECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10235, 18 August 1911, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1911. THE BY-ELECTION.

The result of the by-elcction in Christchurch North was what we confidently expected it would be. It was unbelievable, that a city constituency should return an Opposition representative, and in spite of the extraordinary efforts made by the Conservatives to convert Christchurch North into a turn-of-the-tide example for the benefit of the rest of the dominion, the friends of progress never lost faith in the democratic loyalty of the constituency. The Opposition saw that the vacancy caused by the lamented death of Mr Taylor afforded an acceptable opportunity not only for testing their strength in Christchurch generally, but also for giving a l<;ad to the rest of the dominion at the general elections. We doubt if so much energy has before been expended on a single electorate as was expended by the Conservatives on this occasion. They had a good deal in their favour, and their selection of a candidate was, no doubt, a happy one. They succeeded in arousing unprecedented enthusiasm among people who had for years been accustomed to take matters political very much for granted, and they perfected an organisation that must have been complete in every detail. The contest, too, was being waged in the district that unquestionably includes the great majority of the consistent Conservative vote of the city. If the Opposition could not win in Christchurch North it could not win anywhere else in the city, and so, we say, the circumstances were peculiarly favourable from the Opposition point of view. The Conservative journals brought all their heaviest guns to bear on the electorate, and the sympathetic attention they devoted to Mr Hall's candidature was a true index to the work that was being done in public and in private on his behalf. We believe that the Opposition polled its maximum vote yesterday, and we are convinced that the votes recorded for Mr Hall are the full measure of' the support the Conservatives can expect in any city constituency. They are also the full measure of the opposition to the progressive policy. If we were disposed to be aggressively jubilant we might say that the Conservatives asked for the axe, and they got it—in the expressive American phrase—in the neck. So much for the party aspect of the fight. On personal grounds we concede that the advantage was always with the Liberal candidate. A man of strong individuality and exceptional talents, Mr Isitt was just the champion to fight a great battle in a good cause. It is a difficult matter for even a keen politician to crystallise his views and commit them to definite words on a score of questions at a moment's notice, but it was Mr Isitt's broad sympathy and intensely human feeling that carried him through. Still, the personal equation scarcely affected the issue. The Opposition bad elected to make the contest a trial of party strength, and the challenge was accepted. We hope that everybody is satisfied.