ELECTION RESULTS

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 94, 6 November 1953, Page 6

ELECTION RESULTS

THE election of councillors for the Borough Council, and the poll on the statutory closing day issue, held on Saturday last, drew more voters than any previous election in Taupo. As a large but indefinite number of the nineteen hundred electors on the roll are ratepayersnot permanently resident in Taupo the actual percentage of residents electors voting is not easily ascertainable. But the size of the poll demonstrated considerable public interest in both election and poll. Such interest is undoubtedly something to encourage those \^ho undertake the responsibility of serving on the Council. The council that has been elected should prove to be a useful and capable combination. That all the five sitting members who offered themselves for re-election should have been successful, and that they were amongst the first six elected, with one of their number topping the poll, is an indication that their services have, by and large, been appreciated by the people of Taupo. Their previous experience should be of considerable value to the Mayor and Council. ' It is of interest to note that despite a large number of candidate standing, three elected councillors secured a clear majority of the 715 votes polled, two of these being previous members and one a new candidate. While of the next three successful candidates, all previous members, one was only two votes, another only ten votes, and the third only twelve votes, below a clear majority. Of the five candidates sponsored by the Businessmen's Assoeiation,

one was a sitting meber and was re-elected, while another, a new candidate, was second on the list. That two only of the Association's candidates were successful may perhaps be taken as an indication that the public felt that five candidates, for a council of eight, was too large a proportion of' possible representatives from one section of the community. That there was no public feeling against such a section being reasonably represented numerically, however/is indicated by the excellent showing made by the two successful candidates. The three new councillors, Mr^ Currie, Col. Barton and Mr Stanley, are well-known and respected members of the community, each with experience of differing spheres of work and interests. They should bring a worthwhile contribution to the deliberations of the new Council. In connection with the poll on the question of the day to be observed as the statutory weekly closing day, it is at least satisfactory that the result, concerning as it does a subject that aroused marked differences of opinion, is definite and decisive. Though the business' community, as represented by the Businessmen's Assoeiation, advocated Monday as the closing day and believod that Saturday closing would be against the best interests of the town, it may reasonably be expected that the forebodings will not be borne out, and that experience of the new closing day may prove it here as elsewhere to have some advantages.