The result of the polling was a brilliant victory for the Liberal Party, especially in the large centres of population, Auckland and Wellington returning two Liberal candidates each and Christchurch and Dunedin three each. No prominent Liberal candidates were defeated, but the Conservative Party lost several leaders, including a Minister of the Crown. In the large towns the Conservatives had hoped to isolate the labour vote and then split it up among the labour candidates. Except in Wellington, where the labour vote was divided, this scheme was not successful. In Canterbury, the section of the old Stout-Vogel combination that had followed Vogel through all his fortunes and misfortunes since he returned to the colony from England five years previously, broke away from the Liberals to a large extent, but this did not transfer the balance of power in the province to the Conservatives.
A very striking effect of the exercise of the one-man-one-vote principle is found in the fact that had it not been in operation, Mr. Ballance would almost certainly have been rejected at the polls. He stood for his old constituency at Wanganui, and he won by a majority of only twenty-seven over his opponent. Had plural voting been allowed, as in former elections, it would have been very easy for his opponents to send contingents of voters to Wanganui from the adjoining districts on the day of the election. There is no doubt that that would have been done, as Mr. Ballance was the head and front of the Liberal Opposition, and with him out of the way the Conservatives would have felt some kind of security. The worth of that security, after events have shown, would not have been very great, as Mr. Seddon would probably have taken the leadership at once; but the House had no knowledge of Mr. Seddon as a chief in those days.
Another close Liberal victory was that of Mr. A. Hogg, who won Masterton by twenty-one votes. In former times, landowners from Wellington went up to Masterton by train to vote for Mr. Beetham, Mr. Hogg’s opponent. As many as forty have been known to do so and the same tactics would have been adopted in 1890 if they had been possible. Quite a large number of Liberal seats were won by narrow majorities,
