The Oxford Observer. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY DECEMBE R , 12th 1896

The extreme prohibitionists may gloat pver the temporary victory in the ;Eaiapoi -elector ate/ but they will find the ou

come will be the revease o 1 what they intended. "They are already getting alive to th£~ fact that they have been 'sold,' find when too late, that their leader had been turning the prohibition handle for his personal benefits We find that here in Oxford, the liberals were too wide awake, and not withstanding the assistance * given by the Sky Pilots in Cust and Oxford to the. crafty Commander in Chief of the. Prohibition Ar my. in Kaiaj: oi } _^. they failed •to shake a singly liberal voter, notwithstanding the house to house canv s. Amongst the peculiar sights on Election Day, was that of a prohibition chariot driven round Kaiapoi by a publican , collecting Conservative votes, surely the mitlenium Jmg arrived, "and the lion has laid down with the Ass." Tbe " wisdom of Mr Meredith select ing the Ashley rather than the Kaiapoi district is at once apparent ; in the former elec- r torate the Prohibition vote is of little consequence, there the fight is a fair and square one, Conservative v. Liberal ; no pernicious and .dangerous temperance organisation or side issues to upset the political apple cart. To show how true the liberals were to their party we cite the fact that Mr Eenner only polled 339 votes, and by running as he did in opposition to the advice of every genuine liberal in the district, he 'has damned his \ political reputation for ever. But alas for Kaiapoi by re turning the man they have their district is disfranchised. A man with little or no ability as a politician— a rank -out- >" sider, and after fhe disrespect ful and impertinent manner in which he has spoken of our V .Premier, iu this district his * influence for v good or ill will be less than nothing. His meaningless gabble in the House will be addressed to empty benches, and his in sulting insinuations will re ceive a well directed rebuke from the Premier from time to time. 