CIVIC ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3063, 26 April 1917, Page 6

CIVIC ELECTIONS

RESULTS OF YESTERDAY'S POLLING CITY AND SUBURBAN CONTESTS HEAVY ANTI-CONSCRIPTION DEFEAT IN CHRISTCHURCH

Yesterday tho burgesses of Welling- . ton were asked: to select their representatives on the City Council, Harbour Board, and Hospital and Charitable Aid Board—three bodies, which practically control the civic life of the city. The election is now held every two years, instead of annually, so those who were returned will have the control and adjustment of affairs in the city, and, to a great extent, on the waterfront, until April, 1919. It was unfortunate that during the whole of the forenoon heavy rain fell almost without cessation, which without doubt must have had an effect on the numbers who recorded their .votes. Early in the afternoon the- weather. cleared, and throughout the rest of polling time (which closed at 7 p.m.) the city booths, at all events, were kept going pretty steadily, making amende for.a slack morning. ■ The rigid restrictions against, any form of touting at polling has obliterated all "colour" from local elections. Still there were a few people at the booth doors who busied) themselves supplying voters with their roll num-. bers, and writing down the same on cards bearing the name of this or that candidate. There was the usual crop of complaints from : people., who had ignored tho frequent warnings of a week or two to see that tliey were on the rolls, and arrived at the booths to find that their names' had been removed' for some iuexplainaWe reason. On tho whole, however, the roll is thought to be a fairly clean one. The first' return which came to hand was from, the Presbyterian Church at Kelburn, and was tho voting on the City Council issue. This return, which was recoived by telephone at 7.45 p.m., placed Mr. A. R, Atkinson at the head of the list, with Messrs. R. A. Wright, J. Godber/G.' IVost, W. H. Bennett, and other'old councillors foljowing. There was no further result oiutll after 8 p.m., when a ring from Brooklyn gave the' results of the council election there, which was favourable to the Lahour ticket. 1 Thereafter the returns came in slowly but steadily. The result of the City Council election in brief is that all' tho old councillors who offered themselves for reelection have' been returned, with the aingle exception of Mr. Thos. Bush. Messrs. John Hutcheson and ' John Fuller, jui}., did not offer themselves for re-election. Their 'places, and that of Mr. Bush,, have been taken by Messrs. John Castle, C. B. Norwood, and J. 0. Shorland. ' A Light Poll. Though it could not be definitely stated last night how many people voted at yesterday's election, there is ample evidence to show that the poll was a good deal lighter than was the case two years ago. On that occasion the poll was headed by Mr. John Puller, jun., who polled 10,985 votes. Yesterday Mr. George Frost headed the poll with 7388 votes. Similarly on the occasion of the last election the fifteenth man on the list (Mr. Thomas Bush) had to poll 6379 to be elected. On this occasion Mr. W. J. Thompson was returned with but 4819 votes to his credit. . The Returning Officer (Mr. James Ames) calculates that about 15,000 electore only went to the poll, which is considered to bo fairly satisfactory in view of the fact that there was no Mayoral election, no half-holiday issue (as was tho case two years ago), and it rained throughout the whole of the morningi \ The Only Returning Officer. Mr. James Ames, who officiated as Returning Officer at yesterday's election, is the only one the city of Wellington has ever had, and to make the record the more unique it has been his duty to declare elected every Mayor that Wellington has ever had. A False Alarm. There was something like a scene at the. Town Hall when it was announced that Mr. H; Holland had. been beaten for.the Mayoralty of Christohurch by Mr. J. M'Combs, and cheers were actually given by some of the Labour faction, who were waiting to learn the result of the City Council. A little later on tho Mayor (Mr. Luke) received a telegram from Mr. Holland announcing that his majority over Mr. M'Comba was over 6500 votes, but the figures were still incomplete.