The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, JULY' 29, 1904. THE PAHIATUA SEAT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 12266, 29 July 1904, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, JULY' 29, 1904. THE PAHIATUA SEAT.

Thk Government made a b'g fight for the retention of the^ Pailiiatua seat. Practically the whole weight of Ministerial influence was thrown into the scale in favour of the Government nomine©,. Mr i Buick. The, Minlsier for Lands vand a- ! Government Whip we're, to quote a tele- ' gram which was read in the House of Repre^entaitives on Wednesday, "•in; Ohe eleet'onite.'.^a,ving .m| jrjoiacis. with 'pro-mi-ps';—^^rocegdin^,^!^',Mr Massey very:r'ig^ti^oßaracj:;ea>s^ interference y'—'while, on'|W''eW^pf'^the flection, : t'h,e Minister for ;Rall^a^s J,yiß'itr. ccl Pahiaitua and delivered ;'ia \ pplitical address in ithe interests ot Mr Buick. The Premier himself did not personally take part in the contert, but he put the. wired fo work —presumably at the expense of -the taxpayer-—and lelegraphed the following persuasive message to fie faithful: "It would be very pleasing to 'have Mr Buiok returned as successor to your latd respected "member, John O'Meara. I hope every effort auII be mnde by yoa and friends, in the interests of the district and colony, to secure his return. Kindest rogard.%. —R. J. Seddon." But the electors declined to be bluffed or cajoled by euoh tactic-, and yestei-day shoAved their resentment of Ministerial interference by rejecting Mr Buick in favour of Mr Haw kins, who stood as an Independent and a Prohibitionist. The majority in favour of the successful candidate was not particularly large, but it was nevertheless suificiontly substantial to mark the sense ol' the electors, .and the which it'carried wi'bh it is emphasised, 'rather than weakened, wJien the votes s&cured by th.c other three unsuccessful candidate? are taken 'into account. If the 138 votes polled 'by Mr Crewe, who entered the lists as a Progressive Liberal, are addod to >tho 1323 votes secured by Mr Buick, it will bo seen that the total is consider-

ably smaller than that of the aggregated votes of Messrs Hawkins and Bolton, the Independent and Oppositionist candidates, who together scored 1894 votes. ■We' have left out of ithe reckoning the co'mpanatively insignificant handful of votea (14) cast for the remaining 'candidate, Mr Munro, for the reason tliat we are unable to place him politically. In any case, on w*hioli!ever ,idds-.they might have' been cast had tihei^e been only two candidates standing, there few vote's do not affect 'the moral, siign'.ficanos of the result. The contest was not fought on questions of policy, but, -as the,'local paper1 put it, "on tihe administration of the affairsl of this colony by the Seddon Government." And the result is the return- of a vigorous opponent of the Government with ; a personal majority- of 95 votes, and. an actual majority against the Government of 433 votes out of a 'grand total of 33G9. In. face of this, -and the fact that the seat was formerly held by a supporter of the Government, the verdict 'returned by the people at 3 resterday's election 'must be regarded aa ia di'etinct Ministerial reverse. It may also be looked upon as plainly indicating the trend of populai- sentiment in relation to the Govetrnmerit's unsatis-factoi-y .attitude on the licensing ques-/ •tion. In lihis sense, -aileo, it may perhaps be regarded as >a triumphl fen* Mr T. E. Taylor as well as for Mr Hawkins, Mi* Taylor having visited Pahiatua for : the' .'ies?preisis 'pui-pose of combatting tho influence of Sir Joseph Ward. ;