MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

YESTERDAY'S CONTESTS

DEFEAT OF LABOUR CANDI-

DATES

THE NEW COUNCIL

The municipal elections took place yesterday. It had been thought that the Christchurch municipal electors, with the knowledge of the important matters that would come before the new City Council, would have been aroused to some degree of interest, but this did not prove to be the caee. Less than one-third of those entitled to vote found time or energy to go to the polling booths, and the apathy of the electors seemed quite as marked as on previous occasions. Altogether there were 9769 persons entitled to vote in the three wards in which elections were held, and 300(3 recorded, their votes. Summed up, the election resulted in the re-election of 6ix members of the last Council — Messrs H. H. Loughnan, H. B. Sorensen, W. H. Cooper, T. Gapee, C. Allison and J. Hadfield. One ex-councillor, Mr C. D. Morris, and five new men, Messrs J. D. Hall, C. Taylor, J. Forrester, A. Williams and G. Hyde were returned. Messrs H. J. Otley and T. N. Horsley, two members of the last Council, have already been declared elected unopposed for the Linwood Ward.

The following figures show how the citizens voted in the different wards : — ■

The polling was very slow all the morning and until late in. the after- ! noon, and it was not until about within two hours of cksing time that there was any fyrisk voting at all. The most notable feature of the election was the defeat of all the candi--1 dates nominated by the Socialist Party, as it has been called. These candidates were .Messrs Thorn and Paterson for the Central Ward, Mr Sullivan for Sydenham, and Mr Faulkner for St Albans. Mr Sullivan was. within thirty votes of a eeat on the Council, but Messrs Thorn and Paterson were placed nearly at the bottom of the poll, and the other Socialist candidate, Mr 1 aulkner, was quite at the bottom. Another feature of the election is the return of Mr J. p. Hall, a son of Sir John Hall, who, in the words he used twelve months > ago, rocked the city's cradle at its birtih. The citizens have placed Mr Hall in the honourable position of senior councillor for the Central Ward. Of the twelve councillors elected yesterday, five have not previously held seats on the City Council, and three or four are new to municipal work. Mr C. Taylor, who is third on the Sydenbam poll, is a working man. He has been a candidate for Parliament in. the workers' interest, but has not. been successful in that direction. Hie election yesterday will be taken by the workers as some compensation for the defeat of the four socialistic candidates. Mr C. T). Morris, who has been returned for the Central Ward, has done a great deal of work on the City Council, but he did not occupy a seat on. the Council that hae just gone out of office. Mr J. Forrester was a hard-working member of th© old Sydenham Borough Council. St Albans Ward has elected two representatives who have not beeii members of the Council before, but jit had no choice in this respect, as neither of the previous representatives of that ward offered their services at yesterday's contest. The Council now consists of Messrs Hall, Loughnan, Sorensen, Cooper, Gapes and Morris (Central Ward), Allison, Hadfield, Taylor and Forrester (Sydenham), Williams and Hyde (St Albans), and Otley and Horsley (Lin wood). The following are details of the voting: — CENTRAL WARD. 2 3 3 M $ I . ? S : ill I Hall . , 364 137 158 125 59 843 Loughnan . . 310 112 133 114 6-1 733 Sorensen . . 274 122 122 111 83 712 Cooper . . 253 107 137 145 65 707 Gapes . . 238 109 118 127 50 702 Morris . . 277 115 96 67 27 582 Collins . . 147 60 91 128 ,51 477 Scott ... 146 83 92 70 38 423 Thorn „ 97 80 70 77 54 378 Paterson .. 68 47 65 70 48 293 Storey ... 79 57 68 43 17 26 i No. of Voters . 452 214 239 223 120 1248 Six members were required, and ! Messrs Hall, Loughnan, Sorensen, Cooper, Gapes and Morris were declared elected. SYDENHAM WARD. II fj ll il 1 &O2 $M P^ f^«> EH Allison . . 300 159 132 42 633 Hadfield . 286 157 113 44 600 Taylor . 233 205 90 26 551 Forrester . 222 118 83 48 466 Sullivan . . 203 114 165 15 437 Parsons . 192 110 89 30 421 Manhire . 165 162 73 20 420 No. of Voters 469 312 207 65 1053 Four members were required, and Messrs Allison, Hadfield, Taylor and Forrester were declared elected. ST ALBANS WARDI ii M II I Williams . . 102 115 118 335 Hyde . . 69 80 169 318 Walker . . 173 31 23 227 Blank . . 25 33 107 165 Faulkner . . 39 63 59 161 No. of Voters 246 180 279 705 St Albans has only two representatives, and Messrs Williams and Hyde were declared elected. Mr Williams is chairman of the St Albans Burgesses' Association, and both the successful candidates are nominees of that body.

No. on Votes . Roll. Recorded. Central Ward . 3769 1248 Sydenham Ward . 3417 1053 Sfc A-bans Ward . 2581 705 Totals . . 9769 3006