BALLOT PAPERS BACK

Chronicle (Levin), 28 January 1947, Page 4

BALLOT PAPERS BACK

■Press AssiDciation

Officer Returns With Votes From Japan ,•

By Telegraph—

AUCKLAND, Jan.- 27. ! After a prolongecl journey of nearly a month, Major G-. E. Pollofek, speclal ^ retnrnmg officer for. the N.Z. Occupa- ( tion Force in Japan, reached Auckland ] from Sydney by flying boat this after- j noon bringing with him a large -wooden box packed tight with the ballot papers , of the occupation troops in the recent election, ineluding votes in the Raglan . election. ' Made of attractive looking j Japanese wood and weighing all of 150 ( lbs.y the great box was never far out ] of Major Pplloek's sight. Padlocked i and lashed with unusual cargo which : 'was included in his personal baggage, it- caused wide interest among the staff 1 of/Tasman Empire Airways who unloaded it from the flying boat. Two men staggering und.er its weight, carried the unwieldy box out to the waiting army car and it was whisked offc' to the- railvvay station to be loaded „ on to the Limited Express on which Major Poi* lock- left for Wellington this evening. Leaving Kure on Xmas Day, Major Pollock travelled by cargo ship to Australia. The box containing the ballot papers and every official record of the election in Japan, 'was carried in the vessel's strongroom. The ship took an unusually long time over the voyage, calling at Cairns in - Queensland for a number of days to load a large quantity of sugar, and it was January 20 before Major Pollock arrived in Sydney. While he waited there for air passage to Auckland, the box was kept in safe custody for him in the flyingboat Aotearoa which brouglit him across the Tasman. The precious papers were stowed among other baggage forward. When lie came ashore Major Pollock said he would be glad to deliver the box to the chief electoral officer in Wellington. "I have been sitting on the thing ever since I left Japan over a month ago," he said. He added with a smile that the votes of 4029 servicemen were in the box but there weremany thousands more papers than that number as the New Zealanders also voted on local option polls and the licensing issue. In addition a large number of official reeords of the election was brouglit back. Interest in the election among the New Zealanders in Japan ran high, Major Pollock said. A large proportion of the men exercised the right to vote, 4029 out of about 4300 doing so. The election was held over several days, lasting from the day nominations closed until the eve of the election on November 26. "I had a fairly small staff assist'ing me with the election and it was a tremendous task collecting the votes from New Zealanders spread over 600 miles of Japan," he said.