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DiCLAKATIOir- OF THB POL! Si*'*
Theofe^eelaraVrottof thepoUwas
jnade i^^e $5pjuj ^Honse, . 'Slyatbalbyii,,
onMonoi&y M nooti by~Mr ?& I). [Woods,
^P^i^'^^^fclirnln^roffiper LJfo'r the
dietl^4h«rA bi^ t- Inge gatheriog of;
elect^s;pre8ent tofipa* tue result tofthe
©hwtion^formally s^ted. After! cbmv
plying^withi the usual^riteai 'Mri Wood
a^vi^i-^J !?*»._» a:-.*»{_i.i.^i _r«L-iie ? t» _i_ ? -
ucuuucu'iiUDii-uir uiEunravunuey 4iMer
and Mr. -Alexander ?Wallace Sand ford
bad been dn^eleoted to serve for the
Southern Pistrict in the Lsgislative
Council, the announcement being received'
. with cheers/ ,.; ' ' ' ' ' =v
8ir, Bichabp Bakbb, who was very
heartily^ applauded on rising, m6ved the,
usual vote of' thanks to 'the Beturning
offiber^ complimenting Mr. Woods on the
general excellence of the arraQgements
made,n^t only for Jthe-' conduct of the
election but lor the promptness with
which its:re8ults^werem£de known. For
the position these results fdisclosed Sir
Hichard said he felt a gratitude to the
electors that could not be expressed in
wofds, a gratitude that was in a great
inea«are j&temiSed;iiy*^fe:3fac^tha4 the
pro?d position he had been placed in was
the 'outcome almost entirely of the
voluntary, effort ^qf^his^rieiids and the
members of . hia ; party. The' polling of
6,385 votes had he believed broken the
record bo far as actnoal totes was con
ooncerned, at any nt ? siroe the colony
had been divided into districts, and he
thought that 'when the matter was looked
into carefully' it would be seen that the
apathy which had been* aid to prevail in
connection with the elections had bean
more apparent than real, or at any rate
a good deal exaggerated, particularly
in view of the fact that there were no
burning questions .to excite the public
inind. *rTne numbers on the rolls by no
mean!) represented the true voting
strength of constitaencieB, and this led
him to remark that' there Was soma thing
radically wrong in tbe preparation of the
rolls, for thottghLeteryifacilityfor plac
ing names was given, thejmachinery by
which., they were j removed, .moved ex
ceedingly sibwiy, with the result that
scores and hundreds el^tames remained
on the li^ts that had no right to be there.
He referred to tbe impossibility under
existing circumstanoes :and at present
renumeratioa for the ? Setarninjr-officers
to amend matters very much, bnt sug
(rested' that ss the Government would
have little to do in the coming session
they might with, great advantage pass a
short Act by whichit3toald.be laid
down that if an elector failed at two
consecaiire elections 0 record his or her
vote notice should be sent to ask for
cause to be show . why the name should
not be struck off. This would have . the
effect of purifying the rolls to a very
great extent and in, $ very simple way.
Coming to the election jint concluded,
Sir Eic-hard said that disassociating
himself from political matters and
speaking from a porsonal standpoint
?he felt sincerely sorry for the defeat of
{his late colleague, Mr. Kirkpatrick, to
:whotn he paid several 'graceful com
pliment*, both as to his {individual w irth
ana sue eirioi, oooest, aaa consilient
nature of his parliamentary career.
He referred in terms'of~gratifiation to
the factthatthe elegtjon. had. beea con
ductea with an utter: absence *&t juu
ptea- antness, the fight being fought out
fairly on both sides. It- had never been
a battle ut persons but of principles, and
though ai he nadjust said he regretted
the per.«OHal. defeat o£r his colleague, he
could not help feeiiutf a sense of pleasure
that the side he (the speaker) fought for:
had come out triumphantly on top. . r
Thtf Kon. A. W. Sakdfoed seconded!
IUB iuuiiou. jxe wan uaiuraiiy very:
pleased and gratified to be in the positioa!
to do this and he desired. to retura his
very hearty thanks to the electors for
giving him the right./ As a beginner a
novice iii the conduct'^of elections he of
cause could not say very uiUch as to the
merits or demerits of Returning Officers
but he did know that the returns had
come in with remarkable, celerity, and
that no hiteh of any kind had occurred!
He echoed the remarks of Sir Kichara1
as to the pleasant way in which the con
test had been engaged in, adding that
he had been , very agreeably surprised tk
the_Vbsence of the^pieRonal element, tbje.
supporters of all three'eandidates work
ing iju -an entirely fair and above^boar 1
oitthaer. He was olsased at this, ani
did not see why any election should bs
conduced otherwise. As. to his owa
election, he felt that , proud . as he
naturally- was of it, it was .not due to
personal influence ; he took it rather as
an indication of the trend of public
opinion, partical&rly' s^i- when he came
.to analyse the polling, mentioning the
voting in East Torrens and at fitrath
albyn. in point,' He Jelt keenly alive to
the great, ; responsibility of the position
they had entrusted ' him to hold, and
hoped to be able to wojrk out the part he
had engaged to perform in each a ~wiy
that when the time came for him toVgijre
an account of his stewardship they would
hot ha-e cause to be dissatisfied with his
aciions. He had ?, made hist maiden
speech on politics a- Strathalbyh, where1
he now had Jo thank 4,539 electors for
eatrusting Mm, a merenovice. withlooki ig
after thfeijr ^i&e^ts in legislative Count il.
Mb. A. A.^ElIEKpathice:' in supportL ig
tthe, motion sjpoke\iliiVcb^liqie.iBtery terms
#ftJ^e;Jtti^^iS¥-oficerjf kmE agrge;^ *- th
Sir H. C. Bake^raa^tp. the.^WAtF^'acy of
the renuuieration made^to tfcat'office'r «. id
his colieakues, and also as1 to the need : or
purifying the rolls, lie very; naturally
felt regret, at being defeated at t as
election, but none the less sincerely did
he thank those 3.442 «opporte» who I ad
votee for huni.and when he saw' that he
had actually polled moire than 1100 volea
more than he had received at tne 1 ist
election he felt little shame at hia def- at.
They might aependfi-n' hearing of lim
again, jind next time he hoped that he.
would oemqre successful t^au He had
hee^-^ttthe ^present. . He.vlf^d a com pli-'
\mii$iyp&S&&; wuntry 't-pi&iu tot the
linjpgjfiuji treatment given to candidates
and upbraidedihe -city jounals, for tl ieir
*^K*4 i3? VK»»e u. l»ir '?: accounts 6f
jeleotioneeViog j{irofi#eding unless tbey;
^we^-ain Jor ioing so. If the T&«nt;
coriteat^^tjS&'charactorised a^ oxw of*
^^^^1^ 4aim to be '* Shampiott,
^O^S^^ pad been-^e ir,,t
^! d;4S''aft'*-i:.?»v'l:,-.V--..'-v-;lJ'.:-.l:- '- ?.-?;-.ry~
* id the proceedings wei?e concluded by
c ieers for thejQtteen. m ...
At the dose of the eeremoriy the newly
^E^demeo at lunch at ihe 'Terminus
Ifetel.the Hon. G, MoGfregor, M.L.C.,
and Mr. Eirkpatrick being amongst the
guests. . A few toasts were honored, a
pleasant hour thus being spent. ? ; - ,
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