MAJORITY OF 705

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20918, 19 October 1942, Page 2

MAJORITY OF 705

WATER LOAN CARRIED £45,000 PR&POSALS ONLY 1177 VOTES CAST The Gisborne Borough Council’s proposal, to. borrow £45,000 for the water extension scheme . was- carried at Saturday’s poll of ratepayers by 935 votes to 230. . x , ’ No great interest, was displayed in the polling, and little more, than .25 per cent of those on .the roll exercised their votes. Of 4281 persons on the roll, there were 1177 ballot papers, in the boxes at the seven booths, indue ing 12- declared informal and 1165 valid papers. , ...... . . Compared .with ;the,.previous loan poll for the-Park Racecourse acquisition, Saturday’s .voting was not. far behind,.... The., racecourse purchase occasioned a great deal of controversy, whereas the water, proposals failed to arouse much interest, 'yet Saturday votes very nearly equalled the 1193 cast ih 1934,, when there were 418 G names oh the roll.

Each of the .five ..polling ’places on Saturday provided substantial majorities for the proposals,' ,;xveh in the outer areas.. .Tbe. greatest,opposition was at Mangapfrpji; wh’tffe the majority for the proposal-wa.4 only two to one,, but at Te Haparft a five to,.one majority was secured, .while at Kaiti it was nearly,four .to..one,..Qi\approximately the same margin as at the Masonic Hall. The Y.M.C.A. booth provided the greatest margin, of more than eight. to one. The voting whs as follows: —

Because of the small number of votes to be counted in a. single-issue ballot, the result was made known very shortly after the closing of the poll at G p.m. The first result was received by the .returning officer, Mr. W. M. Jenkins,.at G.10.p.m.,-while the final result was. disclosed;At 6.20 p.m.

For. Against Masonic Y.IVT.C.A. 275 277 G4 33 Marigapapa 143 78 Te Ilapara 122 25 Kaiti 113 30 Totals 935 230