BOROUGH BY-ELECTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1823, 7 May 1918, Page 4

BOROUGH BY-ELECTION.

MESSRS HANNAH AND KEMPSTER RETURNED. The Borough by-election for the return of two councillors to fill the vacancies caused by the resignation 'of Crs Mc.Coll and Stevenson took place yesterday. There were five condidates: Messrs R. Ashmore, J. Hannah, R. Kempster, S. Read, and J. W. Stevenson, and the poll resulted in the return of Messrs Hannah and Kempster. There was not f a great deal of interest evinced in the election, only 341 electors going to the poll. Of these, eight votes were informal. A large amount’of plumping was done, about 100 electors recording their votes in favour of one candidate only. The poll closed at 7 p.m. and half an hour later the Returning Officer, Mr W. Waters, announced the result of the .voting as follows; — HANNAH .. 174 KEMPSTER ~ 125 READ .. .. ~ 118 STEVENSON .. 80 ASHMORE .. ~ 05 Informal 8 There were not many present when the result was, announced, but a call was set up for the elected councillors and defeated candidates to express their opinions. After some delay, Mr Hannah came forward and briefly thanked the electors for the honour conferred on him. After this, calls were made , for “Skim Milk,” “Sambo,” etc., but there was no response. The Mayor (Mr John Chrystall) at this stage addressed the gathering, He congratulated Messrs Hannah and Kempster on their election, and said he was glad to see that the newly-formed Labour Party had taken an interest in the election. It was a good thing for the town to have an interest evinced in municipal affairs. If the result of the election was a vote of confidence in him as Mayor 'he thanked the electors most heartily. At the same time, he regretted the loss of Cr. Stevenson

to the Borough. He was sorry that Cr Stevenson had moved a vote of consure at a recent meeting, as up to that time he had looked upon him as a very member of the Council —a man who had the interests of the borough at heart. All men were liable to make mistakes, and he hoped that at some future time Mr Stevenson would again offer his services.