GENERAL ELECTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1938, Page 7

GENERAL ELECTION

VOTERS IN NEW ZEALAND. A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE. (By Telegraph —Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The prospect of the million mark being reached when the main and supplementary rolls for the Dominion close for the general election is indicated by the substantial increase in the number on the main roll for 1938 compared with 1935. The main roll closed on June 30. Enrolments during the three to four months prior to this were particularly heavy following on general electioneering activity, the total for the Dominion being 865,742 compared with 739.379 in 1935, an -increase of 126,345. The total on the main and supplementary rolls in 1935 was 919,594. As the enrolments for the supplementary roll throughout New Zealand for 1938 are progressing steadily, there ,is every possibility that the million mark will be reached. The supplementary rolls will close on the date when the writs for the general election are issued, which cannot occur until Parliament, which is at present in its final session, is dissolved. As the Prime Minister has indicated at different times that the House would rise at the end of September, it would follow that electors who have not yet enrolled, and who have qualified, should take immediate steps to effect registration. Application forms are available at every post office or at the office of the registrar of electors. The chief electoral officer, Mr G. G. Hodgkins, stated yesterday that it was confidently felt that there would be 1,000,000 electors on the main and supplementary rolls for 1938. He attributed this to the natural increase in population and to the keen electioneering activity at present evident. Of the 919,594 electors on the roll in 1935, 772,128 voted, the distribution of votes being as follows: Labour, 357,618; National Party, 269,131; Democrat Party, 60,996; Country Party, 13,246; others, 71,137. In 1931 there were 876,731 electors on the roll. The figures for the Wellington and surrounding electorates are set out below. The 1938 figures represent the number on the main roll, which closed on June 30, and the figures for 1935 are the aggregate (main and supplementary rolls).

Under the electorate alterations recommended by the Electoral Boundaries Commission, Wellington Suburbs is a new electoral district. The old Wellington Suburbs has been renamed Wellington West and still remains a no-licence district, and the new Suburbs electorate becomes a licensed district. Manawatu has absorbed the old Oroua electorate, and portion of Manawatu has been absorbed into Otaki and Rangitikei.

Main Roll. Main and Supmentary. Wellington Central 13,593 14,392 Wellington East .... 14,Q31 17,508 Wellington North .... 14,573 13,845 Wellington South .... 13,790 13,914 Wellington Suburbs 13,403 — Wellington West .... 15,088 18,372 Hutt 12,687 17,788 Wairarapa 9,322 9,047 Masterton 10,286 10,172 Pahiatua .. 9,729 9,455 Palmerston North .... 12,930 15,249 ' Manawatu 10,998 19,048 Rangitikei 10,531 10,202 Otaki 9,799 10,839 Wanganui .. 12,862 11,434 Waipawa .. 9,180 9,209 Hawke’s Bay 11,400 12,784 Napier 11,850 11,930 Patea 9,530 10,488