political Party from which they had much to hope.  With it, therefore, they threw in their lot.  The result showed the power the agrarian feeling of Unionism and of one-man-one-vote.  In New Zealand, all the elections for the House of Representatives take place on one day.  In 1890 the day was the 5th December.  On the 6th it was clear enough that Ballance would be the Colony’s next Premier.  His defeated opponents made a short delay, in order to commit the huge tactical mistake of getting the Governor to make seven additions to the Upper House.  Then they yielded, and on 24th January, 1891, he took office.

Within his cabinet, he had the staunchest of lieutenants in Mr. John McKenzie aforesaid, whose burly strength combined with that of Mr. Seddon, now Premier, to supply the physical fighting force lacking in their chief.  Mr. Cadman, another colleague, was an administrator of exceptional assiduity.  But none of these had held office before, and outside his cabinet Ballance had to consolidate a party made up largely of raw material.  Amongst it was a novel and hardly calculable element, the Labour Members.  At the elections, however, no attempt had been made to reserve the Labour vote for candidates belonging exclusively to Trades Unions, or who were workmen.  Of some score of Members who owed their return chiefly to the Labour vote, and who had accepted the chief points of the Labour policy, six only were working mechanics.  Moreover, though the six were new to Parliament, several of their closest allies had been there before, and were old members of the Ballance Party.  Not only, therefore, was a distinct Labour Party not formed, but there was no attempt to form one.  For the rest, any feeling of nervous curiosity with which the artisan parliamentarians were at first regarded soon wore off.  They were without exception men of character, intelligence, and common-sense.  They behaved as though their only ambition was to be sensible Members of Parliament.  As such, they were soon classed, and lookers-on were only occasionally reminded that they held a special brief.

Anything like a detailed history of the struggles which followed would be out of place here.  Nor is it possible yet to sum up the results of changes, none of which are eight years old.  A mere enumeration of them would take some space:  a succinct description would require a fairly thick pamphlet.  Some were carried after hot debate; some after very little.  Some were resolutely contested in the popular chamber, and were assented to rather easily in the Upper House; others went through the Lower House without much difficulty, but failed again and again to run the gauntlet of the nominated chamber.  The voting of some was on strict party lines:  in other instances leading Opposition Members like Captain Russell frankly accepted the principle of measures.  Some were closely canvassed in the newspapers and country; others were hardly examined outside Parliament.  But, roughly