ELECTION REVIEW

AUCKLAND PROVINCE

LABOUR IN THE CITY

COUNTRY CHANGES

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day

With the General Election ten days off. the position: is becoming clarified and. the prospects of candidates in the Auckland Province can be reviewed with* more accuracy than was possible even a week ago. Campaigning has been exceedingly active in both town arid country and greater interest is ; being taken in the coming polls than "; even in 1935. That there will be changes '■'] in the province seems inevitable. Too '■ many minority seats were won by :. Labour at the last General Election for ' the Government to retain them all this 'time. The electors have been organised thoroughly throughout the province. -.' :.-' ■ '■ ' ■

Women have been particularly active, and there is a, strong body of opinion that predicts that the women's vote will turn the election. One feature of the campaign in the city and suburbs of Auckland is that National Party supporters are not only attending the meetings of their "own candidates in large numbers but are also spreading themselves amongst the Labour sup- : porters at meetings of Government candidates and at times asking pertinent questions.

- In the eleven seats surrounding" the jCity- there is no indication that there will be any change except with respect to Eden. ••■•■ This constituency is still the hope of the Nationalists. The fight . is triangular, an independent candidate being Mr. A. E. Robinson, but it is not anticipated that he will take many . votes. The National candidate is Mr. Donald Pool, formerly secretary of the Eden branch of the party. ■* He is an energetic young man, but is rather lacking in experience. Mr. Pool's meetings have been stormy but he appears to. thrive on opposition, and people come from near and far to enjoy the fun. Five policemen were in the hall at a recent meeting and when the chairman ordered the arrest of a persistent ihterjector the meeting became - violently hostile and half of the people ■walked out and held an impromptu Labour meeting outside. Mr. W. T. Aaderton won the seat at the last General Election for Labour with 5946 votes, defeating the Democrat, Mr. A. ■J. Stallworthy, a former Minister of Health, who polled 3481. The Nationalist, Mr. E* G. Clarke, scored 3458. Eden was won by Labour with a minor - ■'' ity of 1148 votes. That is the reason why the Nationalists are making .such a determined campaign of Eden and feel confident of success.

The Auckland Central, Auckland ; West, 'Auckland East, Auckland Suburbs; Eoskill, and Grey Lynn seats were all won last time by Labour with majorities over all candidates, and - there has been hotting; to warrant the assumption that any,'of'"those seats will "/be lost by the Government. Onehunga is the old Manukau seat renamed as ' the result of the report of the Boundary C6mmissioners; There have been some alterations in the boundaries /but ' Labbur supporters are confident that :Mr. £A; jdf; Osbdrne, who ,_won the ■ !"seat' at a by-election-after ' the fornier Labour member, Mr. W. J.

Jordan, had been appointed High Com- ' tnissibnefc will have ho difficulty in re-' 'ovaisyg.it. His National opponent is Mr. i. Park; a former Mayor of Ortehunga. .'.'• . ..' v Hard campaigning is the order of thfe day for the Waitemataseat, which *'&as underjgone considerable change in Tbotindaries, but Mr. W.. J. Lyon is not likely to be displaced. His opponent '"'for' J the National Party is Mr. J. E. Closed who is putting up a good fight. He lacks the experience and platform 'ability of the sitting member. A large "'slice of the electorate, the marine 'suburb of Devonport, hias been included in the Auckland East con- \ Stituericy," and while there will be a •keen coiitest there the chances are in 'favour of the sitting member, Mr. F. ''W. Schramni. His opponent is Mr. H. <-:T. Merritt.

The new seat Of Otahuhu includes a ■ considerable industrial area and Mr. C. R. Petrie appears to hold a safe seat. His National opponent is Mr. K. B. tTenneht.

If the Auckland province is to play any conspicuous part in turning the Labour Government out of office it will be by the yote of .the rural constituencies, where seven seats are held by Labour on minority representation. The Marsden seat is a case- in point. Mr. J. G. Barclay won the seat lor the Government from Mr. A. J. Murdoch at the last General Election, polling 5215 votes against Mr. Murdoch's 4868. 'In all there were four candidates and the total poll against the winning member was 5633. The contest for this seat is keen. The boundaries have been changed in the north to include the coal-mining' district of Hikurangi, which means a Labour vote approximating 600, but the change in the southern boundaries has not been so favourable to the sitting member. Mr. Murdoch is popular and has done excellent work in the interests of the* dairy industry, and the Nationalists are confident that he will regain the 'seat. ■"' . ■ /" ■ •';'....

: The Kaipara seat, held by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, is another minority seat. Three candidates stood last time, Mr. Coates polling 4738 votes, the two candidates against him receiving 4964 votes. The general opinion in the district is that Mr. Coates will'win with a comfortable margin this time. The Government candidate is Mr. P. G. Stewart and the Independent, Mr. J. S. Davidson. "

The Bay of Islands seat also looks -like a win for the Nationalist, Mr. H. F. Guy. Captain Rushworth. the Country Party.candidate, who has held the seat lor a number of years, is nut standing. The Labour candidate is a school teacher, Mr. C. W. Boswell.

There is a strong possibility that Franklin will reject its Independent m&iiber, Mr. A. C. A. Sexton, and a^in return "Mr. J. N. Massey. . Mr. E. Piggott is the Government candidate and he is active in his campaign. The general .view is that the split vote will give the seat to the' Nationalist. Pay Of Plenty, Hamilton, Hauraki, Rotorua, Tauranga, and Waikato are allminority seats held by Labour and the National Party is ■ predicting wins in most of themj The Bay of Plenty seat is held by Mr. A. G. Hultquist, Who won a triangular fight and has ever since been most assiduous in his attention, to the district. Appreciation of his efforts was shown recently when he received a presentation, and the National candidate, Mr. W. Sullivan, made complimentary reference to his work. In. 1935 Mr. Hultquist received 3519 votes, and against him 4642 votes were, cast. The good work accomplished for his district might give him a- slight advantage on polling day.

;% Mr. C. A. Barrell will haye1 to keep working hard to retain the Hamilton seat which he won on a split vote three years ago. His poll was 553L\ the Nationalist, Sir Alexander Young, scoring 4141. A Democrat, Mr. H. D. Caro, polled 2479 votes. The seat looks doubtful for the Government if the

figures of three years ago are any indication.

Two new candidates are out for Hauraki. Mr. R. Coulter, who won the Waikato seat at the last election for Labour, and Mr. J. M. Allen (Nationalist). The seat was won at the ■last election, by Mr. C. R. Petrie (Labour) with 5325 votes, three candidates standing and the vote against the winner aggregating 6410. The alteration of boundaries and the establishment of a new electorate, Otahuhu, has altered the candidates, Mr. Petrie contesting Otahuhu and Mr. Coulterforsaking Waikato. The seat is in a farming district, and the odds are a little in favour of the National candidate.

The Waikato seat has also two new candidates, Mr. J. W. Neate (Government) and Mr. W. S. Goosman (National Party). This rural constituency returned Mr. Coulter for the Government on a minority vote three years ago, and there is every probability, with a straight-out fight this year, that the National candidate will have the better chance.

Raglan was won by the Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, at the last election, by an absolute majority, but the Minister's popularity, judged by the reports of meetings in the electorate, has waned. He had stormy meetings, with attempts to carry resolutions against him. He has two candidates opposing him, Mr. A. S. Sutherland (National) and Mr. A. J. Gallichan (Independent). While the Labour Party is confident that Mr. Martin will again top the poll, the Nationalists are equally confident of a majority vote against the Government. The fight for Tauranga has been spectacular from a platform point of view, Mr. F. W. Doidge (Nationalist) always having attentive audiences. The seat was won for Labour last election by Mr. C. H. Burnett with 3602 votes, the National candidate, Mr. C. E. Macmillan, scoring 3567, Mr. A. E. Robinson (Country Party) 2243, and Mr. C. T. McFarlane (Democrat) 806. A fifth J candidate polled 53. Mr. Burnett's majority was 35. On paper there appears to be an excellent chance of Mr. Doidge winning the seat, but .on the other hand Mr. Burnett has made many friends, and has been unremitting in his attention to the needs of the electorate. The decision will be awaited with considerable interest.

The Rotorua seat is also a minority electorate held by the Government and the National candidate, Mr. Harry Nixon, is putting up a fine platform campaign. He was formerly editor, of the "Waikato Daily Times," and for many years prior to his Waikato appointment was assistant editor of the "Christchurch Times." The chances are that the seat will be held by Mr. Moncur. The Thames seat held by Mr. J. Thorn (Labour) is al?o likely to remain unchanged.