[1] The 1911 election resulted in significant losses for the Liberal Party and Joseph Ward's government survived a no-confidence motion on the casting vote of the speaker only.

[9] Bill Veitch, at the time a United Labour Party MP in Wanganui, claimed that Wilkinson had been under immense pressure from the Reform Party not to contest the Bay of Islands election, and that William Massey had promised him a seat in the Legislative Council in return,[10] an allegation later picked up by other media outlets but also implicating Reed in the affair.

The primary complaint was that Reed had, through an intermediary, tried to convince Wilkinson to retire by promising him a seat on the Legislative Council, and to reimburse him for his election campaign expenses.

[15] The editor of the North Otago Times offered the following explanation:[17] Mr Stewart silently served in the House of Representatives as a sort of political warming pan for the Bay of Islands seat while Mr Vernon Reed, its former occupier as a supporter of the Reform Party, marked time during the period of his technical disqualification as a candidate at the 1914 election.

Immediately that time was over, Mr Stewart resigned owing to pressure of private business.Stewart's explanation, however, was that he had made a hurried decision when he consented to standing in the 1915 by-election, and that soon after, he realised that he would have to give up his business if he wanted to effectively represent his constituency.

[18] Stewart maintained that he had intended to hand in his resignation several months earlier, but was persuaded to await the return of William Massey and Joseph Ward, who were in England to attend the Imperial War Conference.

[24][25] Frank Herbert Phillips, who had been interpreter for the Legislative Council for many years, claimed to have received a strong requisition, but did not come forward as a candidate.