STAGE SET FOR POLLS

Chronicle (Levin), 2 March 1949, Page 3

STAGE SET FOR POLLS

• Press Association)

— — — » ■ ■ ■ — Liquor And Gaming Issues Next Wednesday

(Per

WELLINGTON March 1. Months of detailed work throughout the Dominion have set the stage for the two big issues that will be decided by electors on Wednesday, March 9 — the gaming and licensing polls: It is hoped that fairly complete results will be available by 11 o'eloek that hight. The arrangements foliow cios'ely those for the General Election and the complex organisation involved will' be an excellent preliminary canter for' the General Election later in the, year. The nerve centre will be the G.P.O., where offieers ,of the Eleetoral Depar.tment will compile cumulative tota(s as details come in from the various distriets. Extra staff has been engaged on the same basis as for General Eiections, and all returning offieers are employing additional clerks. , Polling booths will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., so that most voters will be able to lodge their papers in their own districts; but provision is made to give all workers an hour in which to vote. The location of booths will be advertised next Monday in daily newspapers. Twenty-five minutes after the elosing of the booths the iirst progress Dominion figures will be broadcast and announcements will continue at intervals throughout the evening. Each re- , tiirning officer will provide three progress results before his last return, but on the two main issues all announee' inents will be on a national basis. Voting Procedure Each eleetor will receive two papers, one on gaming and the other on licensing. The pro'posal put before electors under the Gaming Poll Act will be: "That provision be made for off-course betting on horse races, through the totalisator, by means to be provided by the New Zealand Racing Confer-j ence and the New Zealand Trotting Conference. " One of these two lines must be struck out: — I VOTE FOR THE PROPOSAL. I V O'TE ■ AGAINST THE PROPOGAL The voting paper for the licensing -

poll will confaih'' 'tliis" " explanatxon:' "The proposed hours during^ which hotels shall be open for the sale of liquor are as follow: Hotels to be open, as at present, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.; or for a total of nine hours, at times to be decided, between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. One of the following lines on the licensing voting paper must be struck out: — I VOTE FOR CLOSING AT 6 p.m. I VOTE FOR CLOSING AT 10 p.m. Every person, jwhq still retains the qualificatiiotf ®uh)def 17 whibli he enroiied prior to the last General Election, or has sinue enroiied, is e.ntitled to vote on the proposals. 1 . The question of eligibility for the special 'local polls to be held concurrently in the King Country and'in the Ashburton and Geraldine . lieensihg 'areas is a little complicate'd, and it is the' primary ' duty of the individual eleetor to" satisfy himself on tliis poiirt; but the authorities have made every effort to avoid confusion. Voting in those areas will be based strictly on residential qualifications. Votes must be cast at a polling place within the partieular area, or by a postal vote arranged with th'e returning officer for the distriet. There is no provision for absentee votes in the local polls, 'but there is in the national polls. Electors who have recently moved into one of the special areas inay vote on the local issues ouly if they notified the move as soon as it was made; those who have overlooked that requirement.of the law are entitled to vote only on the national issues, , Tliis is the first oecasion in the history of New -Zealand that eligibility for a vote has depended upon preeise delinition of the King Country boundari'es, which inelude parts . of Or cut across six European and two Maori eleetoral districts. To assist persons who may be uncertam whether they livo in one of the three special areas, spccially-prepared maps showing the boundaries and stating the issues involved in each case will be published.