THE ELECTIONS.

West Coast Times, Issue 10429, 7 December 1896, Page 2

THE ELECTIONS.

[Peu United Press Association.] Napier,- Dec. 4. T,here was intense excse.rnenfe but perfect quiet and order in town. .M'L^ean, ' and Russell's committees .^w.ere qonfid'ent of decided victories but were not pre-pared-for such large majorities. All the returns to come in will materially increase .Russell's majority, He polled, a^najoj&y at eyery booth and in only one was run at all close. H,unter'a victory, was, a surprise to many but was very popular. As the .returns came in to the ■ Herald they were displayed with limelight on a large sheet interspersed with snapshots taken in town in the afternoon and an immense aud demonstrative crowd assembled

blocking all traffic, but there was-nodis^ order.

Dunedin, Dec. 4. On no previous occasion, has greater interesUßeen taken in the election and f rj^the first opening' of the polling ""^boptlis till the close, there was^ a steady

stream of voters proceeding. They were very orderly. A good many carriages were put into requisition but there were no posters on them. There has been more literature in this than any other previous occasions.

CfLRIST^HURCH, Dec. 4.

Though the interest in the election for ,the city was very keen, the, voting pro" * ceeded very quietly, and the best of order and good feeling prevailed jhroughqut; the whole of the day. Arrangement^ everywhere were very mucb better than at the previous election, and 4 though the local option vote was also t^ken^, there was very little delay and there was a noticeable absence of touting at polling j places, which was a pronounced feature three years ago.

At Kaiapoi, for some reason which will have to* be explained, the names of a number of electors were crossed off the roll after its publication and their demands to be allowed to vote were refused. Protests in conformity with the Act have btjen, lodged by the RQrsoqs affected.

Auckland, Dee. 4.

There was beautiful weather i pr the election and great interest was taken. The liquor interest mqnqpolised nearly the whole of the cabs of the city. They had cabs numbered and their men wore red favours. Excellent order and good feeling prevailed thrqughout. The Temperance people worked^ well but had few vehicles/ The W.G.T-.U. were represented at the various booths.

Wellington, Dec.

The election proceedings were extremely quiet, the tamest, in fact for years. In the early part of the day it would have been difficult to believe polling was in progress but the streets became fuller when the doors closed for the afternoon holiday. The absen.ce of vehicles was, particularly noticeable, the restriction placed on their use by law had evidently great effect, and though some of the candidates had requested their friends by advertisement to place carriages and traps at their dispdsal, the appeal was not largely responded to and few of the vehicles conspicuously adorned with posters, that were the feature of f or_ mer elections, could be seen. There wag no rowdyism and not much of the usua horse play indulged in on these occasionsThere appears to be spine confusion about the arrangement for deplaring the results, which may lead to delay. Some of the clerks at the branch booths intend, to declare the result of their particular ballot box without waiting for others, j and if this is persisted in it must cause confusion and difficulty in getting at the correct totals. Comj>l ainta 4?ere made during the day of the practice of stationary touts at booths furnished ■with facsimiles of the voting tickets with which to d_ejude the unwary. Some of these were dropped into the boxes and probably there will be a good many informal votes from this cause and another source of vexation was that whereas in some booths, voters, upon entering received both voting papers together, in. others they did not get the licensing paper without specially asking for. it, and it is asserted plenty of votes were consequently not recqrded. There seems to have been want of uniformity in arranging the details of taking the ppll. The Collector of Custpmg has received nine^ty-s^ven seamen's votes.

Dec. 6.

A mass meeting was held by the successful candidates on the Liberal ticket last night at the foot of Queen's wharf. Gregt enthusiasm was shown. Hutcheson, Fisher, and Wilf ord, who were returned, and Wilson, who was only a few yqtes behind, addressed the attendance, declaring a great Ljberal victory had been achieved and that the labor vote had never before been so solid.

The Premier also spoke and was received with cheers. He said the 4th December was emancipation day of- the

See Fourth Page.

«ity of Weiiiiigw^ Befemng to ihe election he said the people had been true to themselves, true to the Liberal cause, and true to tbe cause of the people. Never before had issues of greater importance been submitted, and he referred with gratification to three successive Liberal Tictories in Wellington, Wellington Suburbs and Otaki. The support of the people was bringing about a state ot things that would give justice equally to all parties and promote the well being of •the people. He said the success of the ■ticket had caused rejoicing throughout "the colony. They had lost several friends, and it was necessary to stick to the ticket. He hoped that the caution given in Wellington would be taken by other opponents that the people must rule. Mr Seddon said the Opposition claimed moral ■victory, but all he could say was that they could have their moral victory every time so long as the results were the same •The party was, he contended, stronger since 1890. During the past session Government had not a majority of more than 8 whom they could depend on, while now they could rely upon 22 and pro Jbably one or two more to come. Referring to Fisher'he said that in 1890 the party had done wrong to him, now, however, they started with a clean sheet. He eulogised Hutcheson as a fit candidate to represent the city and congratulated Wilson on the position he secured at the poll. He urged the continuance of organisation in the Liberal cause ; without it they ■would not be successful. After referring to the success of Mr Wilford for the Suburbs, he said the illness of Mrs M'Kenaie had prevented the Minister of Lands speaking outside his own district and this entailed more work on him. He defended the action of himself in speaking at various constituencies throughout the cdjony and pointed out that Mr Duthie, though not a candidate, had done the same. Mr Seddon concluded by stating that the Tesult of the election, on the whole, was extremely satisfactory, and while deploring the loss of some good Liberals, tbe Government had got two seats for every one they have lost, the loss being mainly confined to the middle party.

The meeting concluded with cheers for the Premier and Mrs Seddon and the Liberal members of Wellington and Suburbs.