should provide only elementary education, not Latin, French, and music.”
It is on record in the local newspapers, which, like other institutions, were then in their days of small things, that the speech was followed by “loud and prolonged applause.” After the candidate had replied to a number of questions, some of them intended to be of a facetious character, a motion that Mr. Seddon was a “fit and proper person to represent Hokitika” was carried almost unanimously.
Mr. Seddon probably never worked harder in his life than he did on that eventful polling-day in September, 1879. All day long he drove a trap between Kumara and Hokitika, the principal centres of the electorate. Some of his old constituents maintain that he did not simply drive, but “drove furiously.” At any rate, he must have taken large numbers of voters to the poll by his own efforts. His friends were in good force, also, and gave him the assistance he needed. Wherever there was a vote to be obtained, he was there, and he accepted absolutely no excuse for any supporter of his not going to the poll.
The result was announced as follows:—
| Reid | ... | ... | ... | 917 |
| Seddon | ... | ... | ... | 800 |
| Dungan | ... | ... | ... | 561 |
| Barff | ... | ... | ... | 463 |
| Cumming | ... | ... | 90 |
Messrs. Reid and Seddon were declared elected, and the junior member for Hokitika was one of the happiest and proudest men in New Zealand.
