LABOUR DEFEATED.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1738, 1 May 1913, Page 6

LABOUR DEFEATED.

THE MAYORALTY.,

KESETS 'OF THE VOTING. MR. LUKE ELECTED,.MAYOR. RECORD POLLING. RETURNS FOR OTHER CENTRES. - THE NEW CITY COUNCIL. MAYOR, JOHN PEARCE LUKE. FLETCHER, R. HISLOP, T. C. A, barber: w. h. p. ' godber, j. FULLER, J. Jun. HINDMARSH, A. H. ATKINSON. A. R. , BUDDLE, H. WRIGHT, R. A. THOMPSON, W J, FROST. G.' ■ TREVOR, J. M'KENZIE, ,L. . COHEN, F. LUCKIE, M. M. F, THE NEW, HAEBOUR BOAED. COBBE, J. G. . M'EWAN, J. W. COHEN, MAURICE M'FARLANE, A. DANIEL, C. E. NATHAN, H. L. FLETCHER, ROBERT TREVOR, JAMES HINDMARSH, A. :H. : . ■ . WATSON, D. J, JONES, C, W. >; WRIGHT, R. A, KENNEDY, A. D. ' HILDRETH, W. (Government nominee^

, Nov.er was there such a day in Wellington. ' There have been plenty of elections; lots of tilts of tlie ancient "Blue nnd Buff" va.viety in the old days; hard, bitter fights for public preference, but 'never has the patient, silent voter been 'asked to do so much "as was tho case yesterday. If he had been an organised [body, he would probably .liave initiated 'iv strike, on the basis of overwork and ■no pay, but having no machinery: wherel until to disrupt the process of tho law nccording to the Statutes, ho just did as ho was required. The pressure was caused by the electors of Wellington having been tasked for tho first time to vote oil four 'distinct issues on the one day—something jthey had never been asked to do before, 'and, in the opinion of many, something iwhich they hope they will never be. asked to do again. .Not that tho selection of candidates for the different bodies concerned presents much difficulty to the j active , man about town, but the ''bulk of the voters are not active men nbout town. Half of them, for instance, ure women (not a tenth of them of the •Mrs. Pankhurst type), who ' are apt to Lecome a little flurried when solemnly .presented by the poll clerk with no fewer than four tinted ballot-papers, and asked to retire "behind the arras." Then other factors are the very young elector, who •lias just come into his municipal privileges, and the aged nitizen, who finds it 'difficult to comprehend-' why all' the elections take place on the same day.

" HoW He Voted. "How did you vote?" said one well.ueaning but rather excited supporter to an old Wellington resident, as ho limped out; of one of the booths yesterday. "How did I vote':" repeated the ancient with 'a chuckle. "Well, they gave me a lot of coloured papers, and I found a pencil in the tent, but when I felt for my 'specs,' I found that I Itad. left .them at home. So I' picked out the longest and tho shortest for the- Mayor and .council, arid scrawled a few- crosses down, but how I voted—well, I couldn't tell you!" But the old man was not the only one who was perpelexed, nor did overyono have so gcod nn excuse as he. Two' years ago the case was not nearly so bad, as then there was no election for Mayor and jione for tho Hospital and Charitablo •Aid Board. This year tho municipal electors are asked to exercise their privilege on four distinct issues for "the first, time. Thoy only escaped' a" fifth by a fluke (tho half-holiday poll).

sentatives of combined districts, the Hospital and Charitablo Aid Institutions Act says:—(l 3) "The Representatives on a Hospital and Charitable Aid Board of a combined district shall be ilected by tfie electors of eacli of the contributory local authorities ivhose districts are included in the combined distriot. Every such elector shall have one vote only, even though he is an elector of more than one of the contributory local authorities of that district." The Polling. The polling was heavier by a great deal than in any previous year. At the general election two years ago the_ number of vote';> '.cast was 17,500, and this was accounted a big poll, but yesterday nearly 20,000 electors exercised their right to vote. No one was kept indoors by the weather and the clerks at all the polls were fairly busy the, day long. At one or two polling places where the accommodation was necessarily limited there was a little crowding and some delay, especially during rush hours. At the Town Hall and at Sydney Street, where ample space was available, there was no crush at any time. Generally .speaking the provision made by the returning; officer, Mr. James Ames, for the taking of the poll, was quite adequate. A few complaints were to be heard at bcoths in the city from disappointed electors whose names were not on the roll, for. reasons which they did not understand. Some of them claimed to be ratepayers, nnd others claimed that they had applied in proper order to be enrolled, but doubtless there are satisfactory explanations possible for the omissions. Tho complaints in the, city were not numerous.

PULL DETAILS OP THE VOTING. The first return for the Mayoralty came from Kearney's Tea Rooms in Tinakori Road, which reached tho returning officer 17 minutes after tho closing of the poll.The last 'return camo from Alexandra Hall at 8.40 p.m. This return had really been sent in earlier, but it camo as from Victoria Hall.

i Ribbons of Names. s 1 .Shorn of "tickets" • or any distinctive *igns. tho ballot-papers, particularly those »f| the City Council and Hospital and (Charitable Aid Board, were only long :ribbon3 of names-placed, as usual, in 'alphabetical order, and gavo many i electors a good deal of trouble, • judging by tho time that was taken to perform ■the necessary duty. About how long does each, one take on nn average? was asked one poll clerk, t 'From ten minutes to a quarter of an. (tour," was the reply, "but some of them ,take as long as half an hour' to fix up jtheir ballot-papers!" [ Bach ' ballot-paper _ was a distinctive 'colour—Mayoral, white; Council,, yellow; .Harbour Board, blue; and Charitable Aid Board, pink—and each had plainly marked upon it the number of candidates to returned. All day long the entrances of,the principal booths in thp city—Town Hall, Panama Street, Sydney Street Hall, and the Druids' Hall—wero besieged by an eager lot of election workers, who decorously yet persistently urged the passing voter to give this or that candidate a cross, and forced cards ivith tho inagic name into one's hands, bits of pasteboard which as often as not would bo thrown away tho noxt moment. ,The result of this was a litter of cards nil front of each booth before the day of days was half over. Nor wero the workers backward in displaying tho colours of their parties. The supporters of the. Greater Wellington Municipal Electors' 'Association sported black- and gold ribbons from coat lapel and blouse, and the Labour "ticket" .made a gay display in blue and white, with ornamental buttons (to fix them definitely to the Labour party. \Another badge in evidence was tho red cross of tho St. John Ambulance Association— worn by workers for Messrs. J. and |P. Castle (who are chemists by. profession) and Dr. D. Platts-Mills (lecturer to the association in Wellington). With praiseworthy endurance, this band of Workers stuck to their posts throughout •tho day, and doubtless secured many a vote which might have otherwise gone astray. There was no acrimony exhibited between the supporters of the different candidates, who appeared to bo on tho [best of good terms with one another, openly if not otherwise. A Peculiar Point, "I could have had two votes for the Charitable Aid Board," said one voter to a. Dominion representative yesterday. How was that P "Well, I have a vote at Miramar and ; one in town, and in both instances I was ! offered a voting paper for the Hospital nnd Charitable Aid Board." What did you do? "I told them at the Miramar booth that fl had already voted at tho Town Hall." The position disclosed was one that left tho way open to dual or even treble voting, for as both the Miramar and Karori Boroughs aro included in Wellington (as a combined district) for the purposes of the election of tho Hospital and ChariI table Aid Board, everyone with a voto in all three boroughs could have voted three times yesterday on that one issue. The matter was put before the returning officer (Mr. J. Ames), who said that tho position was one that could not be avoided, as every elector in the combined . district '.vas entitled to. a vote, and if ono i person was on all three rolls, and exer- ' cised his right to vote ho would bo offered tho Hospital and Charitable Aid ballot paper in each place, and it would bo a matter of honour for him to vote only onco on tho issue. "If it was found that only ono man had voted twico on the one issue, would it invalidato the poll?" . "I don't know—it might!" returned Mr. Ames. On thq subject of, the election of reprc-

A maximum amount of excitement attached to the returns as they filtered over the telephone. The chances of the two candidates see-sawed up and down at regular'•intervals until there, were only four results to come in. Then—but not till then—did Mr. M'Laren's defeat seem certain. The remaining four returns meant ? - .in every case, an increased majority for Mr. Luke. "It was just seventeen minutes past ■seven o'clock when _ the first booth total reached the returning officer uer telephone. This was Kearney's Tea Rooms, /ear the Botanical Gardens, and the figures showed' the sitting Mayor to be slightly in the lead. Two more results meant farther advances for Mr. M'Laren, but the ,four,th return—from Kelburne— placed his opponent in the lead, and not before the At'o Street result (eighth on tho list) came over the wire did Mr. M'Laren forge to the front again. Notwithstanding one or two minorities at certain booths he kept ahead, and j when at Sydney Street he was seen to have polled 839 votes to Mr. Luke's S'2s, his chance of retaining his seat seemed to be good. His biggest advantage was when the polling at the wharf was announced, making his majority 401. A few. minutes later, the largest return (Town Hall) came to hand, ond turned the tables in favour of Mr. Luke, but the latter's majority was svtopt away again by the returns from Wadestown, Druids' Hall. Brooklyn Baptist School, and St., Mark's Schoolroom, all theso being in favour of the sitting Mayor. The final result then rested with the Panama Street polling places, where the voting was reported to have been heavy. As was expected, Mr. Luke gained an overwhelming 1 majority at these places, and the last few returns increased his advantage, leaving him -with an aggregate of 9994 to the sitting Mayor's aggregate of 9486. The full figures are as follow:— LUKE, JOHN PEARCE 9994 M'LAREN, DAVID 9486 Majority for Luke 508 The voting at the various booths was as follow:— Luke. M'Laren. Kearney's Tea Booms 70 88 Motor Shed, Manners St..:. 183 234 Masonic Hall, Adelaide lioad Kit 188 Kelbnvne 241 '.W Northland 72 !H Maranui 6!) 77 Hntaitai Pavilion 25j 21)8 Aro Street 87 l(il Masonic Hall, Brooklyn... 90 13!) Tinakori Roud, Schoolroom 14:) 151 O'Donnell's llall, Kilbirnie 210 '.'Oil Victoria Hail, Adelaide Road 231 411 St. Peter's Schoolroom, Gliuznee Street 282 245 Newtown Library 316 301 Island Bay 197 144 Rechabite Hall, Manners Street 233 300 Sydney Street Schoolroom 825 83'J Roseneath School G3 82 St. Thomas's, Newtown ... 813 719 Tho Wharf 91 434 Holiday's, Lambton Quay 444 189 'Town Hall 1G35 1350 . Wadestown 107 138 Druids'' Hall 325 589 Baptist Schoolroom, Brooklyn 219 260 St. Mark's, Dufforin Street 171 183 Turnbull's, Panama Street 603 292 Harcourt's, Panama Street 591 286 Century Hall, Kent Terrace * 408 402 Congregational Church, Courtenay Placn' 368 288 Alexandra Hall 371 362 9994 9180 Informal votes, 177. THE MAYOR-ELECT. A GOOD RECORD. The Mayor-elect was horn at St. J«ist, nMr" Penzance, Cornwall, on .Inly 16, 185S, and was educated at the Penzance Wosleyan Day School. He tame to Nr'.v Zealand (villi llii- parents in .Inly, IS7I. ■ and entered tho engineering works of lh« . late Mr. E. W. Milts, where he completed

Ilia apprenticeship as an engineer, which ho had criinuieneed in the Old Country. Subsequently jVIr. Luke entered the sor-' vice oi' Mr. Edward Seagor, of t lie Victoria Foundry, and later was engaged l>y tlie Government as one of the first engineers employed in the I'etone workshops, then only in course of erection. Jn 1870, with his father (the late Mr. Samuel I.uke) and his brothers, lie founded the firm of S. Luke and Co., Ltd., a firm wliieh has been concerned with many important engineering, shipbuilding., and lighthouse construction works. Mr. Luke is at present joint managing director of the firm with his brother, the Hon. C. M. Luke. M.L.C. In 1898 he was elected a member of the City Council, and at his last two elections (in 1007 and inil!)) ho had the honour of heading tho poll. At the Parliamentary election of 1908 he was returned as member for Wellington Suburbs. lie was also president of ,the Wellington Industrial Association for two years, and for several years was chairman of the Wellington District Hospital Board, and chairman of the New Zealand Ironmasters' Association, and the Wellington Technical Education Board. During his term of office as a City Councillor lie strongly advocated the reclaiming o[ tho flats at tho head of Evans Bay, as the most suitable place for the extension ot Wellington's industrial quarter. Since then part of the area has been reclaimed, and ths work is slowly proceeding at the present time, though not, at present, with any fixed idea, of the same being used as Mi-. Luke intended. Probably with the next industrial leap forward Mr. Lnko s scheme may be consummated. _ Mr. Luke was married in ISSO to Jacofoiua, a daughter of Hie laro 3Jr. .11. 11. M'Gregor (formerly a Government inspector of machinery). Mrs. Luke i> an energetic worker in many ways, and is always to the foro when there is nny good purpose to bo served in winch she can lend assistance, a? was recently evidenced in. the Citizens' Carnival.