ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5166, 17 August 1927, Page 2

ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES.

OHINEMURI DONE AWAY WITH.

MERCER RENAMED HAURAKI.

The final decision of the Electoral Boundaries Commission was released in Wellington on Friday last. A few changes have Ixeen made as a result of objecting petitions. Ohinemuri is done away with by being absorbed by Thames, Tauranga, and Waikato.

The commissioners have apparently made no cha.nge in the Manukau electorate since it was provisionally defined. Franklin and Raglan also remain unchanged. The name of Mercer, which is a new electorate, has been changed to Hauraki. Until the maps have been laid on the table of the House of Representatives it will be. difficult to give a clear idea of the alterations, but it seems that the Hauraki electorate is made up from the greater part of Thames electorate, which extends up the- Hauraki Gulf. There has been no further change in the Thames electorate since the provisional limits were gazetted. So far as can be judged at present, in addition to Thames and Coromandel, the boroughs of Paeroa and Waihi, and Turua, Kerepeehi, Kopuarahi, Netherton, Awaiti, Tirohia, Karangahake, Waikino, and Waihi Beach are now included in the Thames electorate. VIEWS OF THE MAYOR. In an interview the Mayor (Mr W. Marshall) said he was naturally keenly disappointed that the na.me; of the Thames electorate had not been changed to Hauraki. He thought the name, was, more descriptive and applicable to the. Thames electorate than it was to the electorate now named Hauraki, and it was indeed strange to find one boundary of the Hauraki electorate on the Manukau Harbour. Continuing, the Mayor said that the name Haurqki had obviously been filched from the suggestors in Ohinemuri by the members of the Boundaries. Commission. He considered that seeing Ohinemuri had been annihilated, the consideration asked for, namely, that the Thames electorate should be renamed Hauraki, might very well have been granted. A similar concession had been made to the only other electorate wiped out by the Commission—Ashburton — where, instead of being called Ellesmere, the name lias been changed to mid-Canterbury. The Mayor said, however, that the principal point worked for had been conceded, namely, the inclusion of the ridings of Waihi, Karangahake, and Waikino in the Thames electorate, and it had been apparently realised that the ridings mentioned had a community of interest in the district. As a representative of the Ohinemuri local bodies who had moved in the matter of 1 renaming the Thames electorate Hauraki, the Mayor expressed the opinion that s ; o far as the boundaries of the newly constituted electorates were concerned they should give general satisfaction. It will be remembered that on June 6 last a conference of representatives of the Ohinemuri County Council and Waihi and Paeroa Borough Councils was held at Paeroa for the purpose of considering the proposed alterations of electoral boundaries. After a full discussion the conference recommended each local body to pass resolutions and lodge definite objections.